


Deku Diamond

by TheSealer



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, Crystal Gems, Half-Gem, Izuku Son of a Diamond, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Quirkless but not powerless
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23518000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSealer/pseuds/TheSealer
Summary: Poor Izuku. Always dreamed of being a hero, but everyone tells him his 'quirk' is wierd and useless. Others have such impressive and powerful ones. What's his? Having a shinny diamond half-embedded in his forehead which gives him some powers that most of the time don't even work. And it's not even a real quirk!
Comments: 38
Kudos: 166





	1. Quirky Quirkless

**Author's Note:**

> This idea started out as a drawing I put on deviantart. What if our lovable cinnamon roll Deku was the son of the god-like figure of another cinnamon roll franchise 'Steven Universe'? So here is 'Diamond Deku'.  
> Even though this is a xover, it has so little Steven Universe interference and characters that I'm placing it on the MHA archive. Also, this is more for MHA readers. Any concept of Steven Universe-verse is explained for MHA fans.  
> I made a drawing for this story depicting Izuku as the son of the biggest, creepiest Diamond out there. Go to my Deviantart account: orichalcosdark
> 
> Italic text - Izuku narrating or writting.  
> "Italic" - thoughts.

_Life is full of surprises. Many people say so. But I bet those people don't expect some outlandish revelation that their mother is an alien ex-queen._

_Okay, maybe that wasn't the best way to start things up. That came out a little weird..._

_Better to start from the beginning._

_Like anyone else, I have no memories of my earlier years. I spent the first three years of my life in an orphanage. Records say my parents were killed in a villain attack. I barely recollect my time in the orphanage. Only that it wasn't good._

_Quirk. A mutation that gifts a person a single, unique ability. Like a power brought out of comic books. Nowadays, 80% of the population has a quirk. They first manifest at about the age of 4. I, on the other hand…_

_I've had this white diamond embedded in my forehead since I was born._

_In the orphanage, I recall the other kids shunned me because of my anomaly. Honestly, someone having a rock stuck to their skull isn't the weirdest thing you see. There are way more fantastical quirks. But those don't show up when you're still a toddler._

_Good thing is, those times didn't last. One day, a green-haired lady came and adopted me. Since that day, Inko Mydoriya is the only mom I know, and care to know._

_So that's my prologue. Born with a deformity, orphan as a baby, adopted by a kindly woman._

_When I was five, my mom took me to a doctor. Because my 'quirk' was...strange to say the least. More accurately, I did strange things: my diamond could glow and I could make tiny white bubbles. I was thrilled back then, thinking I had finally gotten my quirk._

_The doctor said different. "Your son is quirkless."_

" _Uh?"_

" _But, Dr. Tsubasa, he has a diamond on his head." Inko pointed at the precious stone_

_The doctor said DNA analysis and x-rays to my feet indicated an indisputable fact: I am quirkless. As for why I'm so abnormal…_

" _According to the record from your orphanage, you were born with that diamond embedded in your frontal bone. It's just as a part of your body as your skull." the doctor explained patiently while showcasing an x-ray of the boy's skull. The frontal bone of the skull had a diamond shaped hole. Fun fact, diamonds usually don't show up on an x-ray. "Yet, the DNA analysis show no quirk factor, whatsoever. So this 'mutation' is not the result of a quirk. It's no different than a bone deformity one can be born with."_

" _So his diamond is not part of his quirk?" Mom was just as confused as me._

" _So it would appear." the doctor nodded like it was completely natural. "Please, understand this is very rare, but not unheard of. There have been scarce reports of people, both quirkies and quirkless, with deformities that show no quirk or nothing related to their existing quirks."_

_I remember my mom putting a hand on my shoulder. She squeezed me hard, like she was afraid I'd disappear. At the time, I didn't understand why._

" _And what are you going to do?"_

_The doctor eyed her for a moment. "Nothing. These anomalies are rare, but from the reports I have, there's never been a case where it harmed the patient's health. Though I advise you allow me to monitor development for the next few months. This won't be made public, if you don't wish it so."_

" _So, I don't have powers?" if I described today how I felt at that moment, I'd say it was like I was walking on a fine line above an abyss. "But I can make this. See!" I made a white bubble out of thin hair in between my hands. The doctor gave it a dispassionate look and scratched his beard._

" _You do have powers, but they are not a quirk. More likely they are a mutation, caused by your deformity." he tapped the diamond, making me flinch away. I didn't like that man's touch on my gem._

" _So if I have powers, I can be a hero, right?" at that moment, I didn't care if for some reason I had no quirk. If I have powers, then I could be a hero like All Might! He made everything better with a smile on his face. I wanted to be like him, so badly._

" _...You should probably give up." the doctor said dismissively. "Although you have powers, there is the chance they won't last. Plus, I doubt they'll be very useful for a Pro-hero's profession. It's best for your sake that you give up on that dream."_

_But I didn't give up. And my powers didn't just disappear. If anything, new ones showed. I learned that I could control the light my gem makes. Making it a beam or a scattered light. I can also make bubbles to put my things in. My room is full of them. It's neat!_

_As for other powers that came along, they're harder to control. Like I found out I have super strength...but it doesn't always work. I only did it once when I tried to lift a big rock that fell over some other kids' backpack. I was 7 at the time, and it weighted like it was made of air! I was just as shocked as the kid I helped out. When I tried a second time, no go. I spent the rest of the day trying to call it out, but never came. After that event, my super strength only showed up sporadically. But luckily in moments that was really, really a godsend. Like one time when Kacchan was being particularly violent against other kids._

_Another power that only came when it suited it was some kind of resistance to damage. When I was walking in the woods with Kacchan and his friends, I tripped on a log over a big ravine and made a hard landing on the bottom. It was about six meters high and full of rocks. Yet I didn't even feel sore. Not a scratch. Too bad later, when Kacchan challenged me to a fight, I ended up bruised from head to toe._

_I have the worst luck, sometimes._

* * *

_**Present Day.** _

"Wow, a new Pro!" Izuku Midoriya's white eyes sparkled at the image of the colossal woman. "And it's a GIANT WOMAN!"

Today, the white-haired, fourteen-year-oldboy was making his way to school when he got a news update on his iphone: a villain fight had broken out and Pro-heroes were trying to contain it. He ran there just in time to see a new Pro-hero making her debut; Mt. Lady.

After the dust settled, Izuku mumbled his own writings. "Quirk: Gigantification. She can increase her size to easily taller than a five-story building. I wonder what happens to her metabolism? Can she change her size to only that height?"

"You a hero fanboy?" a random civilian spoke to Izuku, luling his attention. "Lemme guess, you're aiming to be a Pro, too? Best of luck, kid!" the man gave him a thumbs-up.

"Thank you, sir!" Izuku smiled widely. That trademark smile, coupled with his big irises of color white which made his diamond pupils look very small in comparison, gave the boy a somewhat disturbing appearance. That made the man flinch a little.

_People are always uncomfortable when I smile. I should come up with a new one_... _No way. All Might always smiles to show people that everything will be alright. I'll do the same._

* * *

Izuku arrived just in time for class. Not that he would have been greatly bothered if he missed it. Today, it was going at a snail's pace. He barely paid any attention to the teacher talking about the future of his students. The diamond-bearer much preferred to flip through his notebook of heroes.

At last, the man said something that caught his interest. "Now that you're all third-years, you need to think about your future. I'll pass you handouts, but..." the man made a flamboyant gesture. "I figured you're all going to the hero course!"

Everyone promptly showed off their quirk, except for Katsuki Bakugo. Izuku shrugged and joined in the fanfare. The jewel that was part of his being produced white lights like a miral ball. Not as strong the white-haired boy would have wished, but then again, when has Izuku had absolute control over his fickle powers?

The fanfare stopped when Bakugo smugly spoke out:

"You're all going to heroics, you extras. But you'll all be stuck at the bottom. I'm aiming for the top. I'll go to UA, and reach beyond All Might!"

The whispers of awe ran amok. In spite of his dismissive and mocking attitude towards everyone else, the whole class still respected and looked up to the explosive blond. Katsuki Bakugo never let any obstacles stand in his way. That was why, deep down, Izuku still looked up to him...

"Oh, right! Only you and Midoriya are aiming to be accepted in UA." the teacher reiterated as an after-thought.

Most of the class continued their criticism against Bakugou, regarding that tidbit of information as unimportant. Though Izuku did hear a few comments:

"He is? But what's his quirk, anyways?"

"I don't think he can even control it."

"Maybe they'll train him to him to headbutt villains. I hear he does that when he panics."

_When you have a rock that is a part of you, weird eyes of white irises and diamond-shaped pupils, a load of naturally, dishevelled, white hair that always grows 5 points in different directions like a star, and a small collection of different powers, people automatically assume you have a quirk. But I don't have. Science says so, according to Dr. Tsubasa. I'm just different. Quirkless and different. And when I try to tell them I'm actually quirkless, they assume I'm either joking or self-conscious about my diamond._

After class was dismissed, Izuku picked up his notebook. He was looking forward to add the notes he wrote down about Mt. Lady's debut, this morning...

"Hey, Deku Diamond!" Bakugo Katsuki suddenly stomped his hand on his desk. 'Deku Diamond' was the insult that Kacchan branded him with for years. A useless diamond, that's what _he_ was. "Listen up, you daydreaming nerd. I heard what the teach said. I'm the only one from this mediocre junior high-school who'll get the pleasure of applying for UA." he looked Izuku very close in the eye. "So be a good-for-nothing diamond and don't apply."

"Why not?" Izuku protested. "Sure I don't have a quirk as awesome as yours, but I can still be a hero."

Bakugo jeered. "As if! You think you can stand up to villains with your flashy light shows or head-butting them with that ass-fake jewelry on your head." he snapped said jewel, as if to prove it was fake. He subtly recoiled his fingers; that flick on the hard stone apparently hurt a little. He continued as if none of that happened. "Anyways, don't even try to apply, or else…"

He placed a smoking hand on Izuku's shoulder for effect. Izuku started panicking, and when he panics, he's got this reflex-like instinct to headbutt the danger away. Without warning, he was pushed back against a wall by an explosion.

"Thought I didn't see that coming, you freak?" Bakugo towered over him, a smirk wilder than anything Izuku could come up with. "You can't catch me off-guard again with those same old cheap tricks. So stay down where you belong, you weirdo."

_I should mention that I once heabutted Kachan when we were little. I think it was the first time he looked really menacing to me. I tried to defend another kid against Kacchan, he got angry and attacked. Out of fear, I just headbutted him. He was out cold with a bleeding bruise. So I took him home. It was nothing serious, though. Even though I apologized, he wouldn't speak to me for more than a month._

* * *

Izuku walked home alone, as usual. He was never one for having many friends. His classmates often found him weird because, well, he was weird. Between his obcession over quirks, nerdy behavior, strange 'quirk' that he didn't seem to have a complete hang on and somewhat crazy appearance, Midoriya Izuku was kind of a loner.

While walking absentmindedly into a tunnel, he took a breath and slapped his cheeks.

"Okay. Nevermind what others say. I will become a hero. I can make things better."

"Hello there!" a gurgling voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Above was a dark green slime with eyes and a big, sinister smile.

"A vill-!" the slime rained down on Izuku. He found himself unable to move or breath. The villain had him and began forcing his way into the boy's mouth.

"Finally a meat sack I can use for a disguise. You're _my hero_ , kid. Now stop struggling. This will only hurt for a while." the sludge looked greedily at his gem. "What's this? You got some jewelry on you. I'll be taking that when I didge your corpse."

" _No, I don't wanna die like this! Not like this, please!_ "

Izuku's gem burst with light, filling the small tunnel in light. The villain shrieked. Izuku found himself able to breathe freely again. Exhaustion immediately took him away.

* * *

Izuku woke up to the feeling of soft but repetitive slaps on his face.

"Young man, are you alright?" his groggy eyes snapped open. He instantly recognized the iconic grin.

"ALL MIGHT!"

The mountain of a man, the legendary nº1 Pro-hero, laughed loudly. "That's right, my boy. There's no need for fear, for I AM HERE!"

The diamond boy entered a frenzy. First he thought he was still dreaming, or hallucinating. Then he frantically searched for his notebook for an autograph, only to verify the Pro had done it already. He had gracefully signed up his notebook.

"Ah! Think nothing of it." the hero spoke boisterously. "I'm so sorry you became involved in my pursuit of this villain. Though I was pleased to see you didn't require my help at all."

All Might lifted a glass bottle containing the green sludge. "When I got here, I saw a light going out. You and this misbehaving boy were both passed out on the tunnel. I take it that was your quirk." the man gave a short glance to the brilliant jewel on his forehead.

"Uh, actually…"

"Well, I must deliver this villain to the police. And I must say, with such a handy quirk, I'm sure you'd make a wonderful Pro, someday."

Izuku's attempt to clarify his 'quirk' died. His eyes shifted into the shape of five-pointed stars. That was his 'starry-eyed' look - whenever Izuku was exited about something or just very happy, his eyes became shaped like stars. "Sir, you're saying I can really be a hero? I've always wanted to be a hero like you. It's my dream to make everything better."

"Everything better?" All Might laughed. "My boy, wishing to make the world a better place is a noble cause. I wish you the best of luck."

"Even if I don't have hang on my powers?"

"Boy, nothing worth achieving is easy to get." All Might waved a finger. "Been a hero takes a lot of training, including on how to master your quirk."

Again was the misunderstanding, but it went completely ignored. He was being encouraged by All Might of all people!

Izuku bowed. "All Might, I promise I will work hard to control my powers to help people!"

* * *

Izuku ran home with a speed abnormal for someone with so little fitness. He left a faint trail of white light behind him. His face adorned by that wide grin and starry-eyed. So enthusiastic he felt that quick stop he had to make before home was almost forgotten.

"Oh, no! I forgot to pass by Mr. Moy's to pick up the bread." he slapped himself. Resigned, but not undetermined, he took off in another direction. After crossing a few streets, he reached his destination. A large, somewhat crowded bakery named 'Bingo-Bongo Sweets'.

Izuku made his way inside, passing by the other customers. He was here to pick up the bread his mom had phoned ahead for.

"So, how is our hero-to-be, today?" to his delight, he was attended by the owner of the bakery.

"Mr. Moy!" Izuku grinned from ear to ear. "I'm here for the bread."

"You got it." the man, Matthew Moy, was of american nationality and possessed a very youthful appearance for a grown-up. He moved to Japan six years ago and opened this successful bakery. The man had a curious mutation-type quirk that made his skin and hair pink. The oddest part were his earlobes; they were shaped like doughnuts, round and holed.

The pink man handed him a bag with the required bread, warm and releasing a pleasant smell of butter. To Izuku's surprise, he was also handed a small bag with foreign sweets. "These are for you and your mom. They're on the house, little diamond." Mr. Moy used the old nickname he gave Izuku. The man was an old acquaintance of him and Midoriya Inko, since they visited Bingo Bongo Sweets upon its debut. Matthew Moy was a good-natured person who got endeared to Izuku. Quickly the boy and mother became regular customers.

"Thank very much, Mr. Moy." the boy accepted, knowing that refusing would be impolite. "Oh, can you believe I met All Might, just now?"

"Really?" the pink man quirked an eyebrow. The man subtly ignored the other customers and paid close attention to Izuku's story.

"Well, little diamond, let no one tell you now that you can't be a hero. Bingo bongo!" the baker said his catchphrase, making pistol gestures with his hands.

Izuku made his signature creepy grin and departed.

Moy chuckled a tad nervously and went back to attending a client. A short, elderly woman walking with a cane. "Good morning, Shuzenji. What can I do for you?"

* * *

Once Izuku got home he blabbed the misadventure to his mother. Inko was understandably frightened, and then relieved.

"My light knocked out the sludge villain. I think I found a new power. Or maybe it's just my old one, but with a new capability."

"Oh, Izuku. I'm just glad you're safe and sound, son."

"It's alright, mom." he hugged to comfort her.

After doing a few chores he went for his room. The walls were decorated with hero posters, most of all were All Might's. Also other Pro-hero merchandise like his desk-lamp UA themed, or the Endeavour calendar, among others. The most interesting feature, however, were the many white, translucent bubbles floating about. Each one had one of his belongings. Izuku leaped and grasped the bubble with a large notebook inside and popped it.

Later, he wrote down the notes about Mt. Lady on the notebook of quirks. On his personal page was a summary of the powers he had discovered over the years.

_My powers_ :

_Lightshow_ _: I can make my diamond shine, be it a beam of light or scattered. Easy enough to control. When I'm in danger, the light glows the brightest and stunned both me and the attacker. Verified by the attack of the sludge villain._

_Bubble_ _: The bubbles I make can float in midair and are perfect for storing stuff. Easy enough to control, too._

_Super-strength:_ _happens very rarely and not when I want it. I think it only activates when I'm in danger._

_Super-endurance_ _: resistance to physical damage. Also impossible to control. Apparently only activates when my life is on the line._

"This won't do. Not at all. I have to improve. I have to make myself better."


	2. Kimberlite Crushing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the months training and experiementing with his powers, Izuku receives gifts and life lessons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kimberlite is a rock known to contain diamonds. The first step to in diamond processing is crushing large pieces of kimberlite into smaller ones.  
> "Italic" – thoughts  
> Underlined – Izuku writing or reading

"Plenty of targets for practice. Secluded enough."

On Dagobah beach, Izuku was surrounded by trash in every direction. He took a breath in wary preparation. A notebook laid opened on the page wrote on, last night. It was a training plan for his powers, with theories and ideas of how they could be used in combat or rescue.

"Okay, let's start with bubbles." creating bubbles was as natural to Izuku as breathing. It was the very first power he had gained, at the end of his kindergarten years. The bubbles were always translucid and white, able to float in midair if he let them. They were handy to store many of his personal items in his room. It kept things at hand without filling up compartments or shelves.

Normally, bubbles would be useless in combat. They're very light and easy to pop.

However, Izuku could produce them with varying hardness. Downside was, the harder it was, the longer it took. Standard bubbles were produced instantly, and they were about as hard as glass. Once, he made a bubble hard enough that it took dropping a big rock on it to pop it.

"Let's give it a try." He extended his hand and frowned. It always felt like a mass of energy flowed from his gem to his hand. The bubble was a little larger than an orange and was just as light as the standards. He checked the chronometer. "Took almost thirty seconds. Time to test it."

He spotted a barely rusty chassis amidst the garbage. Izuku hurled the bubble at it with all the might he had. The bubble popped upon impact, much to Izuku's dismay, which quickly turned to some satisfaction upon seeing big dent where the bubble hit.

"Progress!" he smiled, starry-eyed. He diligently wrote down on his notebook.

I can make bubbles hard enough to damage steel if I throw them. Yet, hard bubbles are just as light as standard ones, which doesn't make sense. If hard bubbles are harder, shouldn't they be denser and heavier? I need more research on this, for later.

He made a note to investigate the conundrum later. The next experiments were meant to refine the first when he tried to create hard bubbles. Turned out, the more time he concentrates in creating a bubble, the harder the bubble is.

Izuku made another note.

The amount of time is somewhat directly proportional to the hardness. If instantaneous meant a soft bubble, thirty seconds made one capable of denting steel manufactured to handle constant heavy loads.

Following, he tossed bubbles of varying timespans at random objects. The longest he had done was a 1-minute bubble. That one had punched a hole half-way through a mountain of trash and made it collapse. Izuku wisely decided not to try anything so destructive, soon.

"Thirty seconds, even one minute isn't much. But in a fight, much can happen in just one second." he would know, after years of viewing and reviewing hero vs. villain battles. He looked over a 15-second bubble. Those were good against softer metals, like aluminum, but no more. "This won't do. I need to make strong bubbles as quickly as I make soft ones."

He summoned an instantaneous bubble and compared the two. They were the same size, and both weigh the same, which was barely anything. Yet, only one of them made a somewhat decent canon ball.

How can two things look so similar but be so different?!

Izuku dismissed both bubbles in frustration. It nagged at him he couldn't even begin to make sense of his own powers! People with actual quirks didn't have this much trouble! Following more frustration, useless attempts to figure out an explanation, Izuku gave up on it.

"Maybe Dr. Tsubasa has an idea. I'll ask him in our next scheduled check-up." he proposed to himself.

Dr. Tsubasa was the man his mom took him to at the ripe age of four when they still believed his diamond was an early-awakening quirk. The doctor was the one to reveal Izuku was a very, very rare case: a quirkless child with powers! The diamond he was born with on his forehead was a non-quirk deformity that gave him his abilities.

The doctor was kind enough to keep it a secret to avoid too much public attention. For the following years, they went for the man for check-ups to see if anything harmful came out of this non-quirk mutation. Thankfully, those fears were unfounded, but the bi-monthly check-ups continued by the doctor's insistence.

Back to the testing/training, Izuku was making very little progress. The main issue was how long it took to make hard bubbles.

Big and tough bubbles…

Hold it!

"Something doesn't have to be big, in order to be tough!" Izuku grinned creepily from ear to ear. He may have just found the solution. The time needed to create bubbles didn't depend solely on how hard they were, but also on their…

RING!

His train of thoughts was promptly stopped his phone started ringing. He picked up. "Yes, mom?"

" _Iz_ _uku, honey, it's almost noon. Lunch is ready._ "

The white-haired one gasped, checking the hours. "Oh, man! I'm sorry, mom! I lost track of time. I'm on Dagobah beach, sorry! I'm running home now."

" _Okay, I'll keep the food warm for you._ " was it just him, or did mom sound a bit strange? " _And Izuku, there's someone here who wants to talk to you. About your incident with that slime villain._ "

"Uh…" Izuku blinked.

Much to his chagrin, Izuku had to slow down several times to regain his breath. His stamina left quite a lot to be desired. The race back home lasted longer than he wished. Maybe he should look into training his body, as well.

"I'm home, mom!" he announced upon entry. He found her sitting on the couch in the living room with a cup of warm tea in her hands. Sitting from across her was a lean, gentle-looking man of short raven hair and sharp look. Izuku bowed to the stranger, whom got up and respectfully reciprocated.

"Good day, Izuku Midoriya. I am Noamasa Tsukauchi, a detective and I've come here to ask you a few details about your encounter with the sludge villain."

Izuku nodded, sitting down on the couch. His mom looked apprehensive, but just a little. Detective Tsukauchi gave off a good-natured presence.

"Now, do you mind if I call you Izuku?" The man asked with a gentle smile.

Izuku agreed and the detective said he could call him by his first name, too. To which the white-haired kid politely declined.

"Izuku, as I understand, you were ambushed by the sludge villain, whom we have identified as Shinya Fukumatsu. Fortunately, you were able to save yourself with a flash of light of sorts, before All Might arrived, correct?"

Izuku confirmed it. Tsukauchi asked him to give a detailed description of the event. Izuku did so, in hindsight, the fact he could have died still made him a just little tense. His mother, however, was more affected. She was quiet during the ordeal; her hands trembled a bit while grasping her cup with too much force.

Tsukauchi nodded. "I'm going to be quite direct, Izuku. I am here because whatever it was you did to Fukumatsu, it seems to have erased his memory of his last few days up to that point."

Izuku blinked. The detective continued.

"After All Might handed Fukumatsu to the police, we interrogated him. He genuinely had no recollection how he ended up on that situation. After more days of interrogation, we discerned he lost his memories of the previous 93 hours."

Isuzu eyes were wide opened. "A-are you saying I _erased his memory_?"

"Apparently. Whether or not those memories will come back, or when, only time will tell."

Izuku was stiff. He had caused someone amnesia without even knowing he was capable of it. Tsukauchi must have deduced what he thought:

"I understand you are a very rare case, virtually unique, Izuku. I checked your records; quirkless and yet with some quirk-like abilities." Tsukauchi casted a very brief glance at the gemstone. He spoke soothingly. "Therefore, there are no laws that can apply to your case. Plus, your life was in danger and you reacted on instinct."

Then his tone became stern. "However, it still stands the fact that you have caused harm to someone else. Even if said harm is minimal or temporary, it's irrelevant, young man."

He would have continued, hadn't Izuku interrupted him.

"Is he alright?"

Tsukauchi frowned.

"Mr. Fukumatsu, is he alright?"

Tsukauchi answered almost instantly. "Yes. He's safely under custody, at a villain hospital."

Isuzu hesitated with his next question. "He's not allowed visitors, is he?" Isuzu had read villain hospitals had such security their patients couldn't get visitors, safe for extremely rare cases.

"No, he's not. Why do you ask?" Tsukauchi quilted an eyebrow. Izuku looked embarrassed.

"I... wanted to apologize for messing with his memories."

Tsukauchi was speechless for just a moment. "In spite of him trying to kill you?"

" _He must think I'm stupid for it_." Izuku mentally berated himself while weakly nodded.

The detective was quiet for another moment before his face adopted a warm smile. Not a professional, soothing one like before.

"You truly are a honest kid." There was a pause and the detective returned to his professional mode. "Understand, Izuku, you are not being charged of any crime, but this incident could have been much worse. Quirk or not, your power can be dangerous if you don't control it. That is any citizen's duty, not just a hero's. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

Before he left, Tsukauchi asked for their doctor's contact.

It was a bit late for lunch when mother and son started eating. The meal was awkward, to say the least. His mother asked more than once if he was alright. Izuku would gently reply everything was fine. The detective's revelation hammered in his head.

_"Mr._ _Tsukauchi_ _is right. Even if this was just a fluke, I can't let it happen again. I need to control all of my powers if I'm going to be a hero!_ "

* * *

**The next day**

Dagobah Municipal Beach was once again his training field. He started much earlier than the previous day. The first sun rays were shily reaching over the horizon, behind the mountains of garbage.

SNAP!

SMASH!

On one of said mountains, an old TV broke apart as a marble-sized white object went right through it at bullet speed.

Izuku turned to another target and repeated the exercise. He snapped away one tiny, marble-sized bubble. The insignificantly light projectile, with the hardness of a diamond, would travel on a beeline for the target and…

"Diamond Smash!"

…Smash it.

Izuku grinned with success, his pupils taking on the shape of stars. The round, white bullets pierced plastics and metals like hot butter with ease!

He wrote down a note, brimming with excitement.

The bullet-bubbles were a success! As it turns out, the time it takes to create a bubble depends both on the intended hardness and size. Making hard bubbles for smashing things takes too much time. But if I make them very small, it cuts back on the time. Bullet-bubbles take about five to ten seconds to make, each. Maybe with more practice, I can find a way to cut back even more on production time.

But when he looked over the broke down, scattered litter, Izuku's triumph turned sour. In hindsight, he had made a bigger mess than the place already was.

" _Just like with_ _the sludge villain_ " he thought, remembering the sludge villain. The diamond boy clenched his fists, determined to get absolute control over his abilities. "Maybe I should work on making my aim more precise, to avoid spreading the damage…"

"Good morning, kiddo!"

Startled, Izuku turned around to meet a familiar face.

"Mr. Moy!" It was the chief of the bakery who was friends with the Midoriyas. Matthew Moy was a man of very youthful appearance, pink skin and holed earlobes. "Good morning."

"Training to be a hero, I see." Moy leaned against a railing. He was wearing light, running clothes.

"Yeah, I have to control my powers better." He added in the privacy of his thoughts. " _Especially after what I was told, yesterday_."

Moy hummed. "I was finishing my morning run. Mind if I rest for bit around here?"

Izuku was conflicted. He wasn't comfortable with the idea of an audience, but there was no way he could refuse the man who had been so kind to him and his mother. Self-conscious, Izuku agreed and went back to his training.

Fortunately, Mr. Moy was a quiet observer. Izuku grew more relaxed as he fired away his 'cannon bubbles'. This time he worked on his aim, trying to tear apart only large objects so he could concentrate the damage on a spot instead of just scattering it.

Time passed and the boy almost forgot about the spectator. But was reminded of such when Mr. Moy spoke out:

"You know, Izuku, as handy as those bubbles can be, not all heroes are fighters. Have you thought about any rescuing moves?"

Izuku shrugged. "More or less. I think I can launch a bubble at an object, entrant it and then order it to come to me. But only small stuff."

Moy suggested. "Why don't you train your light powers, too?"

The memory of what he learnt the previous day silenced any reply to that. What he had done to another person, even if he was a villain, made his stomach sick.

The pink man noticed the somber look on his face. "Is everything okay?"

Izuku sighed. He hadn't spoken about it with anyone else, not even mom despite her pleads. He had come to the beach early to work off these negative feelings. Now, they were back. So Izuku spilled them. He told the baker his encounter with the sludge villain, what the detective revealed his powers had done to the man. By the time he was done, Izuku stared down at his feet like a scolded child, even though Moy had said nothing.

While the boy looked dejected with himself, Moy was hesitant on what to do. He sighed and said.

"Everyone makes mistakes, whether intentional or not. You didn't even know your light could mindwipe people. What you did was just instinct kicking in, right?" Izuku nodded slowly. "And there wasn't much harm done, right?" another nod. "Then be glad for that. When I make a mistake, I find it best to look at how much I can make up for it. It also helps to think how much worse it could have been. You've learnt your powers can cause harm, but they didn't cause too much and now you know it."

He let that be absorbed. Izuku's face turned up, losing some of its gloomy look.

"Maybe you can't take back what you've done, now. When it comes to mistakes that can't be undone, all we can do is try our best not to repeat them."

Izuku took a heavy breath. He glanced at the spots of trash where he had practiced his shooting.

" _That must be why he was an early bird, today. Probably felt he needed to get the hang of his powers._ " the man of American descent mused.

"You're right. I screwed up. That's all the more reason I need to control my powers." Izuku looked over the craters and holes he made. Still needed a lot of work.

Moy put a gentle hand on his shoulder. He declared kindly. "For what it's worth, the simple fact that you're concerned for someone who tried to do you wrong, shows you're true hero material." The pink man looked him over with a look that felt a bit nostalgic. Any remainder of Izuku's bleak disposition disappeared after hearing that.

Moy asked curiously. "This mindwipe power, you never did anything like it, before, right?"

"N-no." Izuku then pondered. "Come to think of it, it activated when I thought I was really going to die." he couldn't help but shudder at the memory. "Like my super-strength and endurance. Those powers only kicked in when I really needed them to avoid getting hurt. I was never able to use them on command. Maybe my most powerful abilities are like that."

"Okay, enough with that, Mutter Kid. Just go back to your training." the pink man rolled his eyes amusingly, much to Izuku's embarrassment.

* * *

**July 14th**

It was on the day before Izuku's birthday that he was scheduled for the bi-monthly medical check-up. Following the routine x-rays, Izuku revealed his discoveries to Dr. Tsubasa, particularly the conundrum about the bubbles. The doctor confessed he couldn't of much help, as he was no physicist.

"I do have a theory about this density paradox." the doctor scratched his thick moustache. He examined a bubble Izuku created per his request. "I think these bubbles work as a... projection of the natural hardness of your gemstone."

"My diamond's hardness?" Izuku blinked.

"As you know, diamonds are the among the hardest natural materials. And you've reported when you create your bubbles, you have a sensation going from your gem to your hand. That might be your diamond 'transferring' its own properties to your bubbles."

Izuku nodded a bit doubtfully. Honestly, that explanation didn't sound scientifically solid, but he wasn't about to offend the good doctor. This man had been nothing but helpful over the years, going as far as to maintain a level of secrecy about the nature of Izuku's gemstone.

"I can't make promises, but I will speak to an associate of mine. With discretion, of course." the doctor assured him. "Maybe he'll have some insight. In the meantime, please inform me of any new discoveries."

"Yes, thank you very much, doctor." the white-haired boy bowed gratefully. The doctor chuckled.

"You're welcome, my boy. And happy birthday."

* * *

**July 15th**

"Happy birthday, son!"

"Thanks, mom!"

Izuku Midoriya turned fifteen today. As usual, the celebration was at home. No one of Izuku's age was present. Just him and his mother. On occasion he got a text from a school acquaintance or a wish of a happy birthday but nothing more. He got along with other kids, but none of them were his friends. He was too weird. It didn't bother him, though.

"You should thank Mr. Moy later, son. He spent all morning working on this. It has your favorite, peach and kiwi."

He assured her before taking a bite out of the first piece while the mother had her own. They had a more or less one-sided conversation. Izuku narrated the discoveries he made with his powers.

"Well, I'm off back to the beach."

"Izuku." his mother called, looking and sounding a bit hesitant.

"What is it, mom?"

She turned to a package leaning against a wall and picked it up, giving it an odd look. "While you were out, this just came through the mail. It's for you, but it's anonymous."

Izuku approached the box. There was a small note attached to it.

Your mother entrusted this to me for safekeeping. Now I give it to you, as part of your heritage. Keep it close.

Happy birthday, little diamond.

"Little diamond?" he muttered. So, whoever sent it must know who he is. And had known his biological mother. In all honesty, Izuku never cared much to learn about his biological family. He was just an infant when they perished in the fire caused by a villain. He was mildly curious though…

" _But for someone to send it anonymously._ " the white-haired boy wasn't one for being paranoid, but this looked suspicious at best. Still, curiosity was making some noise.

"Izuku, maybe its best that you don't open it." the mother advised and Izuku knew that was the right thing to do...but, curiosity kept eating at him. He knew if he didn't open it now, it would consume him until he caved in.

"I'll just take a peek first." he did so and used his gem to illuminate the inside. He blinked; it was a fist-sized octahedron. Each facet had one of the four colors: white, yellow, blue and pink. Two colors for each facet.

Slowly he pulled the object out and showed it to his mother, whom was just as confused. The octahedron had a smooth texture and the facets reflected some light. Like they were made of crystal. Yet it was incredibly light.

"What is it?" the mother asked, more to herself than her child.

"Funny." Izuku noted that - the object being like two pyramids attached to each other at their bases - the four colors were all distributed equally on both halves. Meaning, each 'pyramid' had one of the four hues. Also, they were not in the same order; only the two white faces were adjacent.

"Maybe it's a piece of art." Inko suggested.

Out of curiosity, Izuku grabbed the top half and, surprisingly it span. So, it wasn't a stone or a sculpture or even a single piece. He rotated the upper part until the two blue facets were adjacent. Nothing happened.

"Maybe it's just a toy, like a Rubik cube." Izuku frowned. A Rubik cube would at least be a challenging toy. This felt more like a baby's challenge. Frankly, the idea that someone out there sent him a baby toy for a present left Izuku quite miffed. Then again, the object carried an appearance perhaps a bit too... _regal_ to be a mere toy.

"I'll check this out later." he settled to put it back in the box and leave in his room. He had his still elusive powers to work on.

* * *

**A month later**

My training with bubbles has bore fruit. Aside from offensive capabilities, I developed other uses for them for rescuing. For example, I can launch a bubble to capture objects in midair and bring them safely down.

Izuku took a short break from his documentation to gather is thoughts. He was writhing more than just a page dedicated to his powers. It was a journal of his experiments and the results.

It's been two months and I think it's time I turn my attention to my light-based powers.

He paused again, this time in hesitation.

The light beams I can emit from my diamond are just that; light. I use it just for illumination. For heroics, they could be used to spot villains, civilians in the dark. Or used as a flare to signal my location. As for offensive capabilities, I doubt I can do more than blinding enemies _._

Another pause, this time longer and more hesitating.

Honestly, I've been avoiding that subject for a while. Since Detective Tsukauchi's visit...guess I've been a bit afraid of touching the subject. My light never did anything like that. I assume the mindwipe is another power that only kicks in when my life is in danger.

Like the detective said: 'Quirk or not, your power can be dangerous if you don't control it.' I must do this, if not for the entrance exam, then at least to try and make sure it doesn't happen again.

I don't know if training my ordinary light will prevent another mindwipe fluke. But, for sure, I must try.

* * *

**Weeks later**

"Light Blast!" a beam of light was projected from his gem and hit a trash pile. Some of the trash was burnt, the rest simply knocked aside. Izuku sighed. "Aim is still a little off."

He pulled out his notebook, looking over the already written chapter.

Turns out if I concentrate enough, I can pour more energy into my light. Make it into actual concentrated energy blasts. Nowhere near as destructive as Kacchan's, they're good for knocking stuff away. I doubt they would do more than stun a person, but I'm not about to test them on people. Plus, using too much power gives me a headache. Perhaps when I get into UA, they will have the means to test how dangerous my energy blasts can be. Until them, use them minimally.

Izuku began writing another paragraph.

Light Blasts are coming along, but I still need to perfect my aim. It would be much better if I could just fire them from my hands. Unfortunately, energy projection from my hands doesn't come off easy. And training doesn't seem to be helping it along.

Sighing, Izuku aimed his palm at the trash pile a few meters away. There was the familiar rush of energy travelling down his arm. Only instead of spawning a bubble in his palm, a humble blast of light fired. It never connected with the target. Instead, it withered out and dissipated halfway.

Izuku facepalmed. "No use. Guess I'll have to stick with head-blasts."

* * *

A hour later, Izuku was through with his morning run and passed by the opening Bingo-Bongo Sweets. Mr. Moy was an early bird that day and had the butter bagels warm and ready for pick up. They were mom's favorite ever since the pink man introduced her to them.

"Here you go, big hero!" the man handed him a bag. The sweet aroma was welcomed into Izuku's nostrils. "So, how's training coming along?"

"Good enough, I'd say." he smiled wearily. Much better than the light-beam training, anyways.

"Glad to hear it." Moy went to inspect another batch of baked goods. They looked like oversized beans of bread and were unfamiliar to Izuku, which was a seldom case. Mr. Moy was ever eager to show and sometimes offer his creations to the Midoriyas.

"Mr. Moy, what are those?"

"Oh, these. You can call them a work in progress." the man scowled a little. "I've been trying to adapt an old recipe of filled cakes into this form of bread."

Izuku empathized with the pink man. He too had issues with his recent lack of personal progress.

"See, the bread is actually a very thin layer. The inside is a chocolate filling that hardens a little once cold. That way, when you take a bite, it doesn't spill all over."

Izuku looked over the sweets. A thin shell encasing a sweet but potentially messy substance.

The white-haired gasped. "I've got it!"

The shout startled Moy. Izuku beamed at him, starry-eyed. "Thanks, Mr. Moy! I figured it out." He pointed the 'work in progress'. "These sweet are the answer. They're have a lot of fillings that wants to burst out of the thin shell!"

That did nothing to clear Moy's confusion. Izuku thanked for the bagels and took off to his home without another word. He had a new training plan to write down.

* * *

**Months later.**

Nine months had passed. Nine months of theorizing and practicing, of training both physical and power related. Of exploring his unmapped abilities, which, sometimes, feel like they want to remain a mystery.

Izuku's white eyes locked onto the big initials at the prestigious school's gate.

"Ready or not, I am here!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> List of Diamond Deku's powers:  
> Ones he can control: these powers can be called upon easily with training.  
> BUBBLES: He can create translucid white bubbles. The time required depends on hardness and, slightly less, on the size intended for the bubble. Soft bubbles used for storing his belongings are instantaneous. Hard bubbles used for combat require more. An effective way of cutting down on the needed time is to create small but very tough ones, called cannon-bubbles. Bubbles are all very light, regardless of size and toughness, so they can be easily tossed or shot.  
> For offensive purposes, cannon-bubbles can be fired like bullets against enemies. In time Izuku learnt to command bubbles remotely, so long they're not too far away.  
> LIGHT: Izuku is able to project light from his diamond. If he concentrates, the light can be energized and fired as a laser. He is also capable of channeling the power through his arms and shoot it from his hands, but it's far less efficient and the light disperses in a short distance. Shooting light from the arms is useless for any purposes. And shooting from his diamond always gets the aim a little off. However, Izuku found a way around this problem…
> 
> Ones he can't control: Izuku's most powerful abilities can't be controlled at will, no matter how much he tries to train. They only manifest when his life is in danger.  
> MINDWIPE: erases memories. The most recent ability, discovered when Izuku was attacked by the sludge villain. His diamond emits a flash of light that knocks out the enemy, whom would wake up later with a period of hours missing from their memory.  
> SUPER STRENGHT  
> SUPER ENDURANCE.


	3. Sparkly Buddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrance Exam happens. Izuku makes his first UA friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna make something different with this story. In this AU, Izuku is a bit more chilled out and naïve. And since he does have powers, despite being quirkless, he wasn't as picked on as in canon. Although Bakugo was still a bully to him, Izuku's childhood wasn't as rough. So, I'm gonna make our diamond boy befriend a different classmate of 1-A. A classmate who can relate to his powers.

The light of the sun reflected on Izuku's diamond as he gazed up to see the massive gate. Behind it was the battle ground where their cadre would be facing their entrance exam.

HUM!

POP!

HUM!

POP!

HUM!

"Will you kindly stop that?" Izuku looked up to see a tall, blue-haired boy with glasses glaring down at him. It was the boy who called him out for muttering during the orientation by Present Mic.

"What?" the white-haired blinked in confusion.

"That which you are doing with your quirk." He indicated the new bubble in Izuku's hands. To pass the time he had been making bubbles and promptly popped them. "It's distracting the other contestants."

Izuku slowly looked at everyone else. Nobody was paying special attention at him. Only a few scattered, brief glances.

"Nobody seems really disturbed." Izuku shrugged. The glasses boy scowled and adjusted his glasses

"We are all mentally preparing ourselves for a strenuous test, yet you don't appear to be taking this seriously enough. Is with this unpreoccupied attitude of yours you intend to become a pro-hero?"

Izuku shook his head. "No, that's what my smile and positive attitude is for. A hero makes everything better, and the first step is to make people feel better with a smile." To illustrate his point, Izuku showed his trademark smile…which he had been told put people off. The glasses boy looked disturbed and replied.

"You are far too naïve to be hero."

He left Izuku feeling a little miffed. Nothing worthy of note happened until Present Mic loudly announced the start of the exam.

* * *

" _I really should have trained some more."_ Izuku berated himself for not having dedicated more time and effort in building up his stamina. Of course, he trained his body in the previous months, too. But apparently, it's not enough to compete with everyone else. The other contestants were running ahead of him.

Loud noises of explosions sounded from every direction. The mechanical villains Present Mic detailed in the orientation were making their appearance all over the makeshift city. The group ahead of him quickly scattered. Some opted to form temporary teams. The white-haired boy was left on his own.

Okay, no big deal. He still had his powers to fall on. At least, the ones that he could rely on. He could do this!

An empty store at his left crumbled. A mech running on a wheel, with two long arms and a single red optic – a One-pointer. It made a beeline for him.

Izuku hurriedly took three bullet-bubbles he kept on his pocket with shaky hands and took aim. The robot approached fast. Izuku's shaking spread over his body. Dead, unmoving garbage got nothing on the dread this thing sprouted in him.

He snapped three fingers. The bullet-bubbles acted like their namesakes and separated the robot's head from its body.

Izuku's trembling instantly became fueled by relief. "Thank God I trained my aiming."

"An extraordinary display of power, but quite lacking in _élégance_ and _opulence_. Not _bien_ at all." Izuku turned to the source of the strange voice. A blond boy of strange appearance, to say the least. His eyes were big and indigo colored. His face carried a sparkly glow to it, like it was completely natural to his person. His smile was quite angular.

"Uh, I'm sorry?" said a confused Izuku, not knowing what he was apologizing for. The boy moved his arms in accordance with his speech in slow, fluid gestures. Like his equally slow, fluid voice was an orchestra and him the maestro.

"I meant to say, your performance lacks the grace and flash of a hero."

Izuku blinked. Despite those words, he didn't sound offended. He had bore much worse from Kacchan. "Don't know about the grace part, but I can make a good flash."

The sparkly boy quirked an eyebrow. "In that case…" and he broke into a run on the opposite direction "…show me, _monsieur_!"

" _Six minutes and twenty seconds left!_ " Present Mic announced. Izuku was already on the sparkly one's tail, determined to show off his 'flash'. They came upon a group of robot targets. Quickly, Izuku looked at the bulkiest part of a three-pointer and urged the energy to be expelled from his gem.

"Diamond Blast!" a beam of luminous white punched right through the killer machine's torso, making it explode. Aiming beams fired from his forehead were a bit difficult to aim, precisely. And energy fired from his hands was never sufficient to do damage.

"Oh, quite _lumineux_!" the boy spoke for the first time without any trace of condescending or critic. " _Mais_ , not quite as mine."

He aimed his lower belly to an in-coming robot. Only now did Izuku noticed the intricate belt around his nave-line with a big lense over it. A beam of clear blue shot from the lenses and pierced through the machine. But it didn't end there; after the deed was done, his beam of light dispersed, filling the air around them with sparkles.

" _Voi lá_!" he made a gesture, like displaying his lightshow as his masterpiece. "A true hero makes the world look better by giving it beauty!"

Izuku was star-eyed. "That was awesome."

" _Merci_." He made an exaggerated bow.

More and more mechs followed after their fallen brethren. Izuku and the show-offish boy finished them off one by one. With every destroyed mech, the two aspiring heroes got more and more creative on the usage of their abilities. Like subconsciously trying to one-up one another.

* * *

In a dark room, a group of teachers observed the exam on various monitors. A small group of them, the senior teachers, would be the judges.

"We have quite a batch, this year." Spoke a soft, almost unhuman voice. "I see several of them are actively competing with each other. That is good! A little competitive spirit makes a fine hero."

Other teachers voiced their agreement. One however, retorted dully:

"Many of them are treating this like it's a game. Enjoying themselves far too much. If they believe that is how a pro fights, they won't last an hour in our school." The speaker's gaze went from screen to screen where he spotted such behavior, including one with a white-haired boy.

The soft speaker hummed. "You bring about a good point. Perhaps its best to level up." In the shadows, the 'person' smirked and pushed a red button tagged 'Zero'.

* * *

"…And this is my light grenade!" Izuku showed off his latest invention; he created a soft bubble and placed it against his forehead. Light poured out of the gem and into the bubble, filling it completely. It shone like a mini, warm sun in Izuku's hands.

"Light grenade!" he tossed the luminous bubble with great accuracy at a three-pointer. The bubble popped and the energy within exploded, destroying the headpiece of the machine. The move also provided a small light show.

"Very _lumineux_." The blond, whom has introduced himself as Yuga Aoyama, applauded controllably.

"Thanks. Since I can't aim very well with my head, I came up with this move. I aim better with throwing stuff."

The non-verbal competition was short-lived. A few streets away, there was another explosion akin to a demolition of a building. That meant a new mech making their debut. Except this sound was much louder and the earth beneath their feet truly shook. Screams and shouts were heard around the source of the noise.

The two boys shared a look and silently agreed to go investigate. In the opposite direction ran other competitors.

Izuku gasped upon seeing the reason. A humungous mech, bigger than a five story-building, _holding onto_ a five-story building, glared emotionlessly down on them, tiny humans.

"T-that's the Zero-pointer."

Aoyama hummed. "It is quite fortunate. We gain nothing to engage that monstrosity."

Izuku's eyes went wide when he noticed a chestnut-haired girl trapped under a pile of rubble. And the Zero-pointer moving towards her. He would have moved to go help her, but his partner/rival halted him.

He spoke assuring. "Don't worry. Nothing will happen to her." He pointed up to a camera attached to the building, recording the scene. "UA's staff has been observing our conduct. They won't let anyone get hurt."

Nonetheless, Izuku eyed the girl. She looked so scared, trying to liberate herself. Even though she wasn't in life-threatening danger (he hoped), her expression cried out for help. How could he call himself a hero if I ignore that?

He gave his colleague a steely look. "Aoyama, this exam may not be a real thing, but if I let someone in need of help down now, how can I help people in a real situation?"

He took off in the direction of the girl. And the metal monster. Firing light grenades, one after another, and some hand diamond blasts at the tank-like tracks of the mechanical behemoth. It did little to no damage.

"Hey, are you okay?" he reached the girl, and without waiting for an answer, he grasped the large concrete chunk on top. "I'm gonna try to move it, so you can get out."

She nodded and Izuku took a breath. " _Ok, superstrenght! Don't fail me now_." He gave the chunk a mighty tug.

It didn't even budge.

"Oh, come on!" superstrenght was one of his unreliable powers, much to his occasional frustration.

"Need some assistance, _mon amie_?" Aoyama was right behind him. He aimed his navel belt at the girl, making the diamond boy skip a beat. But the laser fired was much thinner than usual and began safely cutting cleanly through the rubble. Noticing Izuku's expression, he divulged. "I can adjust the width and potency of my laser. Now," he looked at the troubled girl. "rest assured, _mademoiselle_ , you will be out of harm's way." He winked, his face sparkling.

The girl looked weirded out but sighed in mild relief and gratitude. "Thank you."

Izuku got his focus back on the incoming menace. Either it didn't notice them tiny humans, or it was content to just run them over.

"How long will it take?"

"Perfection can't be rushed, _monsieur_." Despite the singalong tone, Aoyama's expression did harden, and his pace quickened. He had just finished cutting the biggest chunk into two which Izuku was able to move away with more ease. Unfortunately, there were more to cut.

Desperately, Izuku began hurling light grenades at the tracks of the zero-pointer. Like before, it was fruitless. It felt like an ant trying to bite a giant.

He heard a pained groan behind him. Aoyama clutched his stomach, doubled over. Izuku leaned down to try and comfort the frenchman. For once, his smile looked forced and strained.

"My quirk has a…deficiency. I can only shoot my laser for a minute before I get a stomachache."

"Maybe I can do the rest." The girl suddenly spoke and with difficulty, touched the piece on top of her with all fingers. It began to lift off the ground; but it fell back down immediately. The girl was left puking her guts out. It must have been a drawback of overusing her quirk, too.

"Worry not, _mademoiselle_. I will rescue you." Aoyama got himself up with shaky movements. "Real heroes don't let something as trivial as a pain stop them."

Aoyama got back to work, doing his best to prevent the increasing pain from showing on his face.

" _He's going beyond his breaking point…and he can will his quirk like moving his fingers_." A mixture of admiration and envy filled Izuku. He had such incredible powers that many quirk users would love to have, yet they were no good when he needed them to save someone else. All he could do were light and bubble tricks. Had only he trained his light powers to have Aoyama's kind of accuracy.

" _Of all the powers out there, why couldn't I have a quirk instead of_ this _?"_ he grasped his gem. _"Even a useless one, at least I would be able to control it."_

Aoyama gritted his teeth, his smile looked more like a grimace. The girl was sweating bullets, occasionally glancing back to the approaching beast. They were in pain and frightened.

Without another thought, Izuku turned against the robot and broke into a run. There was a theory; his uncontrollable powers only seem to activate when his life was in imminent danger. Colliding with the moving tracks of a giant robot had to qualify.

"Please work! Please work! Please work!" he reared his fist back. Unnoticed by him, his gem glowed and the light travelled through his fist. "Diamond Smash!"

The fist coated in energy collided.

* * *

Aoyama was taught since young age to always look presentable. Gapping was severely frowned upon, but right now, that hard-wired lesson completely slipped his mind. All that was in his mind was the fact that _monsieur_ Midoriya, whom couldn't do anything to help just moments ago, obliterated the Zero-pointer with one punch.

It was as if a giant cannon fired from where Izuku had been standing, blowing everything away. The robot's tracks were destroyed and scattered in pieces, like a bomb detonated underground. The rest had tumbledon its back. The surrounding buildings had their fronts ruined, though remained mostly standing.

The girl they tried to help out was in the same state of astonishment. Another competitor, one with engines on his legs, assisted Aoyama liberating her from the rubble.

" _Incroyable. Magnifique. Miraculeux._ "

"Such power." The boy with the engines whispered.

"Why didn't he just do that from the start?" the chestnutt asked not at all accusingly.

The dust settled to show Izuku's frame lying on the ground, unmoving. Aoyama and the girl made a beeline for him with the engine quirk user following suite. Other competitors approached as well, curious to see the responsible for ending the metal colossus. The glasses boy kneeled down and checked his pulse.

"Is he okay?" the girl asked worriedly.

"He looks just passed out." The glasses boy turned to her. "He engaged the Zero-pointer just to save you?"

She nodded and indicated Aoyama. "He and his friend tried to get me out, but when they realized they couldn't, he went and punched the robot."

"He did not display such power until now." Aoyama revealed, feeling equal parts mesmerized and, possibly, suspicious?

"Is everyone alright?" a sweet voice made itself known. A short, old lady dressed in a medical robe walked by and began handing out gummy bears. "Does anyone have injuries?"

"He may need some help, ma'am." The engine boy pointed to the unconscious one, gentling flipping him so his front was turned upwards. The old lady's seemingly closed eyes snapped open upon seeing his face. She gave him a quick scan and proclaimed:

"He is merely exhausted. Nothing a quick nap won't fix. If you could please take him to one of the gurneys, I have others to attend to." Without another word, she turned to the others, asking for injuries.

"Who is that?" the girl asked.

"That is _mademoiselle_ Recovery Girl, lead medical staff member of UA. Her quirk allows her to heal injuries with a kiss." Aoyama supplied.

The girl opted to not comment that, for a healer, she didn't seem particularly caring about the diamond boy. The engine boy diligently carried Izuku to a gurney where he slept profoundly.

* * *

_Izuku was surrounded by darkness. He was the brightest light. He was the sun that burnt in the day and the night. The light that illuminated everything; magnificent, unending, perfect. As it should be._

_All around him were the lesser lights. So small, so flawed, so ephemeral. He was here to make them better. To guide them. To correct them. And, if need be, to snuff them out. As it should be._

_Close to him were three lesser lights that were closer to his state of perfection._ Closer _, only. As it should be._

_The Yellow Star, so strong, so hot, so full of power. But so easy to snuff out when its hard shell is broken._

_Then there's the Blue Star. So beautiful, so dignified, but so unable to guide herself alone, relying on other for direction. Blue and Yellow, despite their flaws, small as they were, understood their place in the sky._

_Finally, there was the Pink Star. So rebellious, so unruly, so childish, so inconvenient to keep around. And yet, so cute, so precious. Despite the Pink Star carrying many more defects than its two sisters, Izuku loved her the most. She was his Starlight._

" _Oh, Starlight!" Izuku sighed with a voice that wasn't his own. "Do you really wish to go?"_

_The Pink Star wanted to go away. To be out there among other stars. Izuku didn't want Pink to go away. But Pink had swayed Yellow and Blue to her side. Izuku could so easily overruled them. They would obey his will. As it should be._

_But…why not?_

" _Then go with my blessing, Starlight." He fondly caressed the pink light. Then his grip on it tightened. "And try not to cause too much trouble."_

_And the Pink Star departed._

" _But first…" Izuku grabbed the Pink Star before it could get out of his reach. With two long black-nailed fingers, he pulled a tiny speck of light from the star. "…a little bit of you will stay with me. For you are mine, no matter where you go or what form you take."_

_Izuku let the Pink Star go and focused entirely on the pink speck. He squeezed it tightly and its hue changed to a pale gray. "You are mine. Now and forever."_

_If Izuku could see his own face, the smile was borderline psychotic._

* * *

Izuku awakened sorely to find himself on a medical room. He looked around to see a short, old woman, typing on her computer. She must have felt his presence, for she immediately turned to face him.

"Ah, you're awakened. Good. You must be all rested up, now. You're free to go."

"Uh…thank you. What happened?" he groggily got up.

"You activated your quirk at the last moment and punched the Zero-pointer, destroying it." The nurse lady explained as if she had rehearsed it.

"I did?" he blinked. So his superstrength did manifest. Guess the whole life-danger-theory was pretty much confirmed.

The nurse scrutinized him before saying. "I should tell you that was most reckless, young man. But since you are alright, I will not push it. You may leave now."

Izuku got up slowly. His muscles were sore and he felt a phantom exhaustion, but nothing too bad. As he walked to the exit, a thought just occurred to him.

"Excuse me, but have we met?"

The nurse froze for a moment. She answered coldly. "I don't think so."

Izuku blinked. "Ah! I remember now! You're Recovery Girl, the healing pro-hero."

The old woman's frame relaxed a little. "Yes, that is me."

What followed were a minute or two of Izuku fanboying, cut short when Recovery Girl politely asked him to leave.

The doctor finished her report on the injured competitors. This year there hadn't been that many, which made her job much easier. That left her more time to make an important call.

She opened a chat with her acquaintance. Today was the day Recovery Girl had expected for almost a decade. She rubbed her left eye, feeling a phantom pain from long ago.

On the chat, a message awaited her reply.

**Captain Stars** : So how was it? (− ꝫ −)

**Recovery Girl** : Didn't feel her presence. But the boy looks too much like her. (≥ ˷ −)

It took a while for a reply to come...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recovery Girl is not who she appears to be. And neither are others. As for Izuku's dream, SU fans will get its meaning. MHA fans, don't worry. It won't impact the story. I'm writting this with MHA fans who don't know a thing about Steven Universe in mind.


	4. First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of highschool and the truth about Izuku's powers comes out.

Uniform? Check!

Bow tie properly done? Super check! (he had to give enough tries until his tie became perfect)

Backpack with first day utensils, including notebooks for analysis? Check!

Prepared for the first day at the top hero high school in the nation? Check!

The excitement that consumed Izuku Midoriya was so engulfing that he couldn't sleep the previous night. The dark circles under his eyes showed for it. Yet, they were easily obfuscated by how much Izuku glowed. The moments when his enthusiasm peaked, his lozenge-shaped pupils would morph into stars.

After getting a heartfelt farewell and confident cheer from his mother, the diamond child departed, feeling as if he could shine like the sun. As a matter of fact, he did so; his diamond would emit a little short-lived radiance on his way to the train station.

" _It looks so much bigger from the front gate._ "

Indeed, the top heroics school in Japan was big, but not quite in height. The 'big' was for how large its grounds were. The faculty buildings occupied less than a fourth of the entirety of UA property. Most space was for battle grounds with faux scenarios, such as the one where the practical exam took place in, training gyms specialized for many types of quirks and other sites of more hands-on training.

A full minute was spent trying to be mesmerized over the scenario before reminding himself it wouldn't do to be late on the first day.

The class he was assigned to, 1-A was mostly full already, but no teacher in sight so he was on the clear.

Inside were a few familiar faces. The first one to stand out was a well-known spiky, blond one. Who was being berated by the tall, glasses guy who scolded Izuku back before the exam. And of course, someone else who chose to announce their presence quite vividly.

"Monsieur Midoriya! A pleasure to see you again." Yuga Aoyama got up from his seat (which was right beside the doorway) to shake his hand. Izuku had learn that his new friend was one for politeness. "It's quite convinient that we are on the same class. We will have many opportunities to show which one of us shines the brightest."

"I look forward to that." Izuku grinned. While he wasn't much for the competition, Aoyama was and the diamond boy indulged him. Plus, occasionally he felt proud of himself when he felt he surpassed the blonde.

"Excuse me, Izuku Midoriya." The boy with the engine quirk approached them and bowed apologetically to Izuku. "I have to apologize for my conduct during the exam. I judged you as a naïve person unfit to be a pro, yet you demonstrated the selflessness of one. Please, I ask that you can forgive me."

Izuku raised a placating hand to stop him. Iida was likely referring to his desperate gamble to save that chestnut-haired girl from the rampaging giant mech. He was about to divulge his super strength didn't even activate half the time when another familiar face showed up.

"That white, spiky hair! It's you, the diamond boy." It was that same chestnut-haired girl, who began chatting, seemingly without needing to pause for breath. The diamond boy reciprocated.

"You passed, like Present Mic said."

"Yeah, I got third place. Someone else was tied with me."

"Oh, that was me! I'm Ochaco Uraraka."

"That's amazing! My name is Izuku Midoriya, by the way."

"You know, I just noticed your freckles are in the shape of diamonds."

Then a dull voice cut in. "If you want to make friends, go to the playground."

Izuku, Uraraka, Iida and Aoyama (who was a bit dejected for being ignored) gazed down to see something lying on the ground that wasn't there just a minute ago.

"Ah! A giant, talking caterpillar!" the diamond child shouted.

Turned out the 'caterpillar' was their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. A frail-looking, disheveled person who didn't seem to fit the image of teacher, at all. Without warning, he commanded the students to get changed for a physical education class.

Soon enough, class 1-A was outside in the courtyard. Aizawa announced a quirk assessment test was in order to verify the limits of their abilities. A series of physical fitness tests where they'd be allowed to use their quirks. Izuku knew what would happen next; despite having no quirk, his powers were often assumed by less wise people to be a quirk. He was snapped out of his thoughts when the teacher called him:

"Midoriya, you got 3rd place in the entrance exam." It wasn't a question. It was a fact; with 28 villain points plus 45 rescue points, Izuku had landed himself in 3rd place on the practical exam, tied with Uraraka.

"Yes, sir." It was a bit uncomfortable to have those dead-looking eyes nailed on him. The teacher unceremoniously tossed him the ball.

"Throw it as far as you can. Use your ability in any way you see fit."

Izuku noticed the teacher said 'ability' rather than 'quirk', but thought nothing of it. He thought for a moment and decided to use something he experimented on the beach. He placed the ball inside a bubble, which made it very much lighter. Then the bubble was pressed against his gem and he focused every ounce of energy he could collect into a beam of light. It pushed the bubble upwards like a rocket of light, high into the sky until it was but a barely visible shiny speck.

Izuku grinned sheepishly at the mutters of awe from his new classmates. Aizawa revealed the ball had an altitude and distance sensor embedded within. According to the GPS, it just started falling. Very slowly.

"It's because of my bubble, sir. I can pop it long distance, if you wish." Izuku proposed and Aizawa agreed, muttering they couldn't wait all day for it to land. The boy sent a mental command and visualized the bubble with the ball inside bursting. He had learnt to burst bubbles long range with a lot of concentration and picturing them in his mind. It was easier if the bubble had a distinguishable feature, as in, the object within.

Aizawa showed the result: 587 meters. "Go beyond your limits. That's the meaning of UA's motto. You'll all take physical tests using your quirks to know your maximum. That maximum will be your starting point in this course."

That got the class excited. Thrilled comments flew around. Izuku started muttering.

"Awesome! Back in junior high, I was never allowed to use my powers, even though the teachers were aware that I have no quirk. Then again, the coach always gave the impression they didn't buy that medical note that I was officially quirkless."

Then everything changed when a pink girl said the test would be fun.

"'It looks fun'?" suddenly the teacher's tone didn't sound tired anymore. The man's dull eyes turned dark and merciless. "You have only three years to become fully fledged pro-heroes. Do you intend to go through all of that with such an easy-going attitude?"

He smirked viciously. "So be it, then. Whoever scores the lowest will be deemed unsuitable to be a hero and expelled on the spot. Welcome, boys and girls, to the hero course."

The glee died a quick death and was replaced by a wary gloom. Izuku shared their fear of being the one to fall in last. Seeing his new classmates in a dark funk wouldn't do.

"Come on, everyone! You heard Mr. Aizawa." he shouted loud enough to garner everyone's attention, including the teacher who returned to that dull expression. "This is the hero course, it's only natural we have to do our best and then some more. That's what we're all here for. Plus Ultra!" and he raised his fist for emphasis.

"Plus Ultra!" almost immediately someone joined him. It was Uraraka. Aoyama was the next, doing a dramatic gesture with his fist and the words heavy with his accent. Next was the pink girl and one by one, almost the entire class came aboard the positive thinking train. Some who didn't join were the bird-headed boy, the one with bi-colored hair and Bakugo (Shocker, I know?).

Aizawa's voice cut in, threatening to diminish the students again. "Before we begin, Midoriya, perform the ball throw again."

That caught him puzzled and Izuku feared his pep speech had turned the teacher against him, somehow. He prepared to repeat his move, unaware that the teacher's shaggy hair started standing upwards and eyes were glowing red. Izuku performed the ball throw just as before and looked at the man, confused.

Aizawa's hair fell. He gave him an odd, narrow-eyed look, then hummed. "Alright, Midoriya, I'll take that as your result for the ball throw test." Without giving any more explanation, he commanded the class to get ready for the first test.

First was the 50-meter dash.

" _Should probably avoid doing anything like Aoyama._ " Izuku thought awkwardly. He used his navel laser to fly himself in a straight line and for a moment surpassed his opponent, the pink girl. Right before the finish line, the stomachache reared its ugly head and the blonde fell face-first on the ground. The diamond boy felt bad for the dramatic boy. He gave him an encouraging smile.

"You did well, Aoyama." And he meant it. Even though the pink girl crossed the line first, he promptly got up and finished after her.

"In spite of my _embarrasant_ performance, I could not live with myself if I did not end the race."

Izuku refrained from observing that it wasn't a race and he was obliged to end it, either way, but didn't want to bring his classmate further down.

On with the grip strength test, Izuku had expected his supernatural strength not to help him out and wasn't disappointed. He got barely a 40kg.

"Guess super strength took another day off." He muttered, downtrodden. Close by, a girl named Jirou Kyoka passed by and gave him a strange look before shrugging it off. She swore she heard something strange coming from the diamond guy.

The long-standing jump, he got luckier. Firing light energy from his hands, he propelled himself above the sandbox. A similar tactic employed by Bakugo. The blonde gave him a glare more menacing than usual for that.

During the seated toe touch, he was paired up with a girl with eyes bigger than his, Tsuyu Asui. The girl stared at him without expression as she pressed his feet to the ground. The she asked:

"What is your quirk about, Midoriya?"

So caught by surprise that he paused the exercise for more than a second. A mean look from the teacher pressed him to continue. He tried to answer the best he could under the physical stress. Good thing he had trained his body somewhat during the summer.

"I…don't really have a quirk."

"Ribbit?" she blinked.

He answered in between deep breaths. "My doctor says I'm quirkless, but…I was born with some powers that aren't quirk-related…They kinda come from my gem."

Close by, another pair overheard that. Aoyama and the pink girl.

With the grueling tests concluded, the moment of terror arrived. Izuku was relieved to find he was on 13th place. The unfortunate last place went for a short boy named Minoru Mineta. The diamond boy was thinking of what to say to console him when the teacher revealed nobody was getting expelled, that it was all a ruse to motivate them to try their best.

"Class dismissed. Hit the showers." the teacher announced. "All except Midoriya."

Izuku blinked up in surprise at him. Aoyama gave momentaneous worried glance, before masking it under his trademark look. He gave Izuku a particularly more sparkling smile, probably as a mean to cheer him up. Asui and Ashido spare him a curious look as do some others before leaving him to the mercy of their unorthodox, creepy-looking pedagogue.

The diamond boy opened his mouth to inquire, but Aizawa got ahead of him. "You registered yourself as 'quirkless' in your admission papers." It wasn't a question, but a fact.

"That's right, sir. I am quirkless." He thought to himself. " _He probably thinks I'm lying like…"_

"I am aware of that. Today was proof enough."

"Huh?"

For the first time, Izuku saw the man's dark eyes glow red and his hair starting to rise like a soft breeze was blown on them.

"My quirk allows me to deactivate other quirks. That…"

This time, Izuku cut him off. His pupils shaped like stars. "You're Eraserhead, the Underground Hero! I read what little articles I could find about you. Your quirk lets you erase any quirk…"

Shota Aizawa was a man who didn't appreciate being interrupted, especially not by a student. He fulminated the white-haired boy with a look second only to a glare from Batman…and Izuku Midoriya continued rambling obliviously about any information he had on the pro currently glaring daggers at him.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow at the lack of fright from this unordinary boy. Normally a glare was all that he needed to keep petulant students in line. " _Problem child_." He thought disgruntled and had to raise his voice:

"Enough, Midoriya. Focus." Despite the tired tone, it did the job of silencing the problem child. "As I was saying, that was why I ordered you to throw the ball a second time. I tested my quirk on you but there was no effect." Aizawa's glare focused on the fist-sized gemstone on the forehead. "I went over your medical files and they support that you're quirkless. Yet, by appearance alone, anyone would say you have a mutation-type quirk. Explain now."

And explain he did. How he has had the diamond on him since birth, as far as he knew. How doctor Tsubasa revealed his strange, unique condition; a non-quirk mutation since birth that granted him his power.

"This mutation of yours, how come I've never heard anything about such thing?" Aizawa asked with a sudden frown, as if he was peering into Izuku.

"Doctor Tsubasa was kind enough to keep it a secret. He said if word got out, the media would be the least of my worries. Many people would be too interested in my mutation. I could end up lock up in a laboratory for research and would never be allowed to become a hero."

Silence followed the confession. Aizawa's black pupils continued burrowing into Izuku's white ones.

"In this course, anyone with an ounce of potential to be a hero is accepted." He uttered like it was a law spoken by God. "Pass by Recovery Girl to get yourself a paper for permission for a DNA test. Ask your legal tutor to sign it so Recovery Girl may take a DNA sample for analysis."

Izuku had a faint smile. "You still don't totally believe me, then."

The teacher's penetrating look intensified. "Do you have anything to hide?"

"No, sir." He replied honestly and Aizawa shrugged.

"Then you should have no problem. Now get moving. I'm tired."

* * *

After a quick shower to ward off the sweat and getting back in school uniform, Izuku headed straight for the healing pro-hero's office to fulfill Aizawa's request. Recovery Girl handed him over a permission paper with cold civility, and then insisted he left as she had much work to do.

" _Grumpy_." He couldn't help but think of the old woman. He had the paper for mom to sign, that was all that mattered.

Now he just had to hurry and get to the lunchroom before the line became exasperatingly long. Sadly, it was a bit long but the wait was worth it if only to taste the delicious food prepared by pro-hero Lunch Rush. The next issue was finding a table. One which was quickly resolved by Aoyama who had a spot saved for him among two others of their class, the big-eyed girl and the pink one.

"Thanks a bunch!" he thanked his friend for the seat.

Izuku gave a quick scan of his friend's plate. It was a foreign dish, French he would bet. Noticing his look, Aoyama explained, without being asked, it was _confit de canard_. One of the finest foods of his land and by far his favorite...

"Hey, diamond boy! I'm Mina Ashido." The pink girl suddenly interrupted. Everything about her was pink, save for the black sclera, the yellow pupils and her yellow-orange antenna. Now that Izuku got a good look at her, he found himself invaded by a surge of emotion. Feelings that didn't feel like his own, yet they did.

For some reason, for just that introductory moment, Ashido made him feel sorrowful and nostalgic of someone…

"Uh…are you okay?"

Izuku blinked and realized he must have stared a little too much. Embarrassed, he quickly apologized and properly introduced himself. To finish introductions was the girl with the big eyes and long, green hair that was paired with him for the seated toe touch.

"I'm Tsuyu Asui, but you can call me Tsuyu." Her lips were wide, her smile sincere and pretty.

"In that case, call me Izuku." He smiled back. She gave him a look that made him feel he was going through an x-ray exam.

"Izuku-chan, was it true what you said during the class? That you don't have a quirk." Tsuyu's big, round eyes made her look even more curious. Every eye at the table was nailed on him.

Izuku ready himself for it. "Yep. As far as genetics go, I don't have a quirk." He passed a hand over his jewel. "I've been told I had this diamond since birth. The powers I have are a mutation of sorts that don't follow the rules of quirks. And the diamond is a 'manifestation of said mutation', as my doctor says."

Asuy's eyes narrowed just slightly.

"How is that even possible? If you have powers, then you must have a quirk." Ashido butted in, like explaining two plus two equals four.

Aoyama added his own two cents. "Maybe it is something else other than a quirk."

"Or something new." Asui suggested. Everyone turned to her quizzingly. She croaked and divulged. "Looking back, before quirks appeared, superpowers were a thing that only existed in movies and comic books. Nowadays, they're a normalcy. Izuku's abilities could be the start of something new."

The whitehaired boy stared in puzzlement. Someone actually believed, right from the start, that he was truly quirkless. That was a first. Most of his old school mates didn't. Some teachers only after genuine proof was given. Even his mother.

Come to think of it, the only person who accepted it just as easily was Mr. Moy.

The pink girl leaned over the table to get a closer look at the white gem. It wasn't the first time someone got in his personal space just to look at his diamond, so Izuku didn't feel bothered at all. Her face was a stern mask, glaring at the precious stone. Then it morphed into an ear-to-ear grin and she moved back.

"I didn't buy this non-quirk thing when I overheard you back in Aizawa-sensei's class, and I still don't. But you look like an okay guy and I like your diamond. So you're okay in my book."

"Oh, thanks." The white-haired boy didn't know how else to respond.

"Plus, you know what they say about diamonds; they're a girl's best friend." She had her eyes narrowed at him and a seductive smile. His cheeks warmed. Ashido chuckled at his reaction. To Izuku's silent gratitude, Asui changed the question.

"Why do you want to be heroes, Izuku-chan and Aoyama-chan?"

The blonde raised from his seat, performed a perfect spin and stopped in a pose pointing to the stars. "I dream of becoming a role model not only for the general populace, but for pro-heroes as well. It is tragic that nowadays there are so many heroes who seek fame, riches and glory. Hero society has become _égoïste_. But fear not, for future pro-hero Yuga Aoyama, will be a new beacon of chivalry and heroism that millions will strive to follow."

He finished his little speech with much more sparkling around his face than usual. Izuku and Ashido just stared and Tsuyu proceeded to drink a liquid yogurt. "If you wish to be a role model, I advise you to act a bit more serious. Those poses of yours may degrade your future image. You're already attracting a few looks."

True enough some students from neighboring tables were staring, some awkward, others taunting. Aoyama's mood deflated completely, the shine around him died.

"Don't feel bad, Aoyama. Making hero society better is a great goal. I believe in you." Izuku comforted him and he immediately perked up.

"Of course the sparkly boys would stick for each other." Ashido giggled teasingly. Izuku looked at her a bit miffed:

"I'm serious. I agree with Aoyama's dream. There's always room for improvement and hero society is no exception. As a matter of fact, I want to become a hero to make the world better."

"How so? Ribbit."

"Just like All Might. Before he showed up, crime was a constant in everyday life. He almost singlehandedly ended the criminal activity that existed in Japan pretty much since quirks appeared and reformed hero society."

Tsuyu stared at him, not blinking. As if she was scanning him. "But why do you want to make things better?"

Izuku opened his mouth to give an answer, but it didn't come. He found himself asking the same thing. Why did he want to better the world? Why did he strive to help people?

He had been asked the same question by grown-ups before, namely his mother and Mr. Moy. He supplied the same answer he gave them.

"I just can't help what my heart wants. Since I can remember, making everything better has been my drive."

Tsuyu hummed. "So you want to help people just for the sake of helping people? That's a noble sentiment, Izuku-chan."

Izuku smiled warmly. "Thanks, I…"

She proceeded. "Although, there are times when people don't want to be helped. Or don't know how to be helped. All Might is a great hero, he almost singlehandedly made Japan a safer country for our generation. But not even he can solve all the problems in the world. Ribbit." She paused, seeing everyone's attention was on her. "I'm just saying two things: first, I think you should figure out what kind of hero you want to be, because there are many ways to make the world better. All Might isn't the only path to that goal. Second, keep in mind that, like All Might, no single individual can correct all the wrongdoings."

_I didn't realize at the time, but that single conversation would be the first piece to change my perspective. Back then, I was focused on following All Might's footsteps because I felt he was the path to fulfill my obsession._

_But my obsession was faulty._

_In the future I'd come to realize my perception of things was incomplete. I tended to see the bright side too much and ignore the flaws in everything and everyone. I only saw the wrongs that were out in the light. If I wanted to improve anything, I had to become more critical of the bad stuff._

_(Sadly, when I did so, my first solutions were…less than ideal. But that's a story for a later time.)_

_At the time, I had no such concerns. I was way too eager for afternoon class of next day, Basic Hero Training. And the teacher would be, you guessed it, the Symbol of Peace and Justice himself!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was going to be much longer, including All Might's class. But it was so demanding that I split it. So, piece of good news, the chapter 5 is almost finished. Izuku will be on a completely different team than in canon. He's not going against Bakugo. Remember, WD!Izuku and Bakugo relationship is this AU is, pretty much, scarce. Still, next chapter will explore that a little.


	5. Miscommunication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Might's first class. Izuku learns the hard way not everybody plays the game as he does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This starts right after the end of the previous chapter.

_I didn't realize at the time, but that single conversation would be the first piece to change my perspective. Back then, I was focused on following All Might's footsteps because I felt he was the path to fulfill my obsession._

_But my obsession was faulty._

_In the future I'd come to realize my perception of things was incomplete. I tended to see the bright side too much and ignore the flaws in everything and everyone. I only saw the wrongs that were out in the light. If I wanted to improve anything, I had to become more critical of the bad stuff._

_(Sadly, when I did so, my first solutions were…less than ideal. But that's a story for a later time.)_

_At the time, I had no such concerns. I was way too eager for afternoon class of next day, Basic Hero Training. And the teacher would be, you guessed it, the Symbol of Peace and Justice himself!_

* * *

**Afternoon of the same day.**

"I AM COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

Izuku was starry-eyed. There stood the Number One Pro-hero himself. Izuku's whole frame glowed a little, but he didn't even care. Why? Because All Might was here!

He wasn't the only one fanboying (or fangirling in some cases) about him. Murmurs and comments flew around.

"It's All Might!"

"That's his Silver Age costume."

"The number one pro? Awesome!"

All Might introduced himself (rather needlessly) as responsible for teaching Basic Hero Training. Under his wing, they would learn the fundamentals of how pros operate. And on their first lesson, class got the bomb dropped on them that they were in for actual combat training.

Each class member was given a heavy, armored suitcase containing the hero attire that the Support Department had designed for them, based on their own sketches and specifications.

Izuku was eager to try on his. In the male's changing room, a classmate approached Izuku. It was the blond, short-haired boy with a tail. He believed his name was Ojiro.

"Say, Midoriya, right?" he asked for confirmation and Izuku nodded. "I'm just curious but, why don't you have a nave?"

Izuku looked down at his own chest. Now that he noticed with some pride, he had gained a fair amount of muscle in the last few months. He was more toned than some of the other boy, but others easily surpassed him, Todoroki and Kacchan chief among them.

Regarding to the blonde's question, it was true Izuku never had a belly button. "Yeah, I was born without it." He just shrugged. Truly in a world of quirks where some humans were anthropomorphic creatures, it was nothing special. The interrogator, Ojiro, accepted that.

Moving on, the class entered the battle ground modeled after another faux metropolis.

Izuku's outfit reflected the sunlight, making him look like a humanoid star. It was a mostly white, spandex suite with some gray elements to it. Such as the transparent gray shades on his face. Or the iconic, five-pointed star that adorned his chest. It served as a very light, but resilient armor. The top point covered his neck from all sides. The two sideways points were long and covered his shoulders. The two lower points stretched down to cover his rib cage but were mostly decorative. A cape with vertical white and black stripes descended from his shoulders.

"Your outfit lacks complexity, yet it sparkles as you do. A fine choice." Aoyama congratulated, giving a twinkle of his own. His suite was worthy of an exhibitionist knight with a crimson vizor and a purple cape with sprinkles. Even his hair shined, making Izuku suspect he put on some special gel while getting changed.

"Thanks. Yours is pretty sparkly, too."

"Perhaps a bit too much sparkly and show-off." That comment came from the ever-blunt but kind Asui.

"Please, mademoiselle. Don't disgrace this gentleman." Aoyama made a face that looked physically hurt. To Izuku it looked like he had just stubbed his toe on something hard, but he refrained to voice it. His friend seemed to have already suffered enough.

He gave a quick scan to Asui. Her suite was body-fitting in shades of green, making her more in the likeness of a frog. A notable feature was the pair of large googles that he wagered would make her eyes look even larger.

"You look cute." He blurted out without meaning to. She croaked, blinking at him. Heat and pink rushed into Izuku's cheeks and he turned away, bashfully. Under the embarrassment, he was so grateful Ashido wasn't around or she might spread some rumors. "I mean, you look good. Green is really your color!"

"…Thank you, Izuku. And I guess white is your color. How did you come up with it?"

His embarrassment subsided. "Oh, I got the inspiration from a dream. Whatever I was wearing was white and had this design." He t-posed to show off a little. "I felt like I could do anything, and I wanted to make that a reality."

"I guess you literally follow your dreams, Izuku." He smiled a bit awkwardly.

All Might called everyone's attention. His first class would skip any kind of basic training and jump straight to combat. That revelation aroused many questions and all at once that the pro had to nervously ask for silence, again. He proceeded to explain the exercise.

A pair of teams of two, one playing the role of villains and the other the heroes, would duke it out inside a makeshift building. The villain team would be hidden at the top floor, in possession of a faux bomb to destroy the city with. The hero duo would enter the building and try to reach the bomb, deactivating it by touch. If they failed to do so before 30 minutes passed, the bomb would figuratively detonate, killing the entire city and the villains would win. Not that would be much of a victory in real life, if the would-be villains are also blown up.

The selection of teams was at random. The first round was Uraraka and Kacchan as the heroes against Minoru Mineta and Mashirao Ojiro as villains. The rest of the class moved to an observation room where they could watch the whole battle recorded from various angles. Before the actual battle started, both teams would have a limited time to plan in privacy.

"I suspect Kacchan will enjoy this way too much." Izuku commented to himself.

"What makes you say that?" Uraraka asked, standing close by. He turned around a bit surprised. Others like Aoyama and Asui were looking expectantly.

"Well, I knew Bakugo before UA. We went to the same junior high. He is…abrasive. Very determined to prove he's the best. In his view, the only path he has is becoming the best Pro-hero. He wants to surpass All Might."

Asui hummed, looking at a screen showing a scowling Bakugo. "He seems rather aggressive in pursuing his goal. A bit too much. That's not the attitude of a pro."

Izuku chuckled awkwardly. "I know right. On occasion, I did try to help him, but he always snarled at me, saying he doesn't need a 'useless jewelry loser like me'. And whenever I said I wanted to become a pro, too, he would make fun of me, that my stupid jewelry would never stand up to his quirk. Even nicknamed me Deku Diamond."

The buzzer sounded and the battle commenced. True to Izuku's word, Bakugo blasted through the entrance and anything that stood in his way to the top floor. A stunned Uraraka was left in the dust.

Whispers circled regarding the explosive teen's generously called determination. He first encountered Ojiro, who did well to evade Bakugo's hits. Until the ash-blond blew up the ceiling above, trapping Ojiro on the other side and moved upwards. Mineta soon found himself against a beast in form of a teen who irradiated a murderous aura. The terrified midget threw a load of purple balls at him in a panicked frenzy. A single blast incinerated everyone. Bakugo lunged forward. Mineta ran away. To finish it off, Bakugo incinerated the faux bomb with a blast, growling his catchphrase.

"DIE!"

In the observation room, the class watched, dumbfounded and collective jaws dropping.

"Did he just blow up the bomb?" A boy with an electrical quirk, Kaminari, asked the question everyone was thinking.

"I don't think he'd do it in a real situation. My guess, he got really excited and had to end it all with a bang." Izuku theorized. Truly, he knew Bakugo well enough to be certain he wasn't a suicidal moron…Right?

All Might announced, a little confused. "Despite the hero team having reached the bomb, Bakugo's actions would have gotten it detonated. Therefore, this battle ends in a draw."

" _Who gives a damn?_ " Bakugo smirked savagely on the screen. Clearly he saw the whole thing as a victory for him and him alone.

The second match was announced and Izuku found himself branded as a villain and partnered with the tall bespectacled boy, Tenya Iida. He was the fellow that reprimanded him during the practical exam, but then apologized in the first day of class. A straight, no-nonsense fellow who seemed relatively easy to deal with. His outfit consisted of armor fit for running, complete with a helmet he carried under his arm.

During the planning phase, they reached the top level where a new bomb was stationed. Iida chose that time to speak out.

"We must make a sound plan of attack."

"Oka…"

"From my observations, Kyoka Jiro is the bigger threat. Her quirk allows her short and long-ranged attacks."

"So does Aoyama…"

"She is more level-headed. And her quirk doesn't seem to be impaired by a time limit."

Izuku was a little upset at that, but let it slide. While Iida prattled on, he momentarily pondered spending his time making a hard bubble around the bomb. Such idea was quickly shot down, as such a large and resilient bubble would take far too long to make.

"We should eliminate Jiro before they find us."

Izuku couldn't keep it quiet any longer. "Iida, if you ask me, you're underestimating Aoyama."

Iida gesture negatively with his arms, but his movements were so rigid that only added to his robotic appearance. "Not at all, I'm merely making a solid, impartial analysis. You are aware of his limitations."

"I'm also aware he is willing to go beyond them. That's what the motto of UA is all about. During the exam, he let himself get hurt to help Uraraka."

Iida paused, seemingly re-evaluating his plan. He inquired what Izuku suggested. The diamond boy hummed, not really used to come up with a plan.

"How about we ambush them? The heroes' goal is to get the bomb, not fight us. They wouldn't expect us both to ditch it."

Iida was quick to refute it, as if his partner's plan had personally offended him. "That is a very bad idea! We cannot leave the bomb unguarded in any way. My strategy ensures one of us stays here. I am more suited to confront the heroes with my Engine quirk."

Izuku frowned. "Your plan is too narrow-minded. It's no different than what the last team did. We should improvise, do what they won't expect."

Iida pushed his glasses up against the bridge of his nose. "And how does an ambush fit into your plan?"

Izuku confessed. "I haven't come up with that yet. My idea is making it up as we go along."

Iida eyed him penetratingly and sighed. "In spite of your heroic spirit, you truly are naïve."

The diamond boy would have retorted in kind, if the buzzer didn't sound, marking the beginning of the battle trial. Without a word, Iida put on his helmet, turned around and walked out of the room. Izuku followed.

"You are not coming, Midoriya. The battle plan says you stay and keep watch on the bomb."

Izuku crossed his arms, stubbornly. "I never agreed to that plan. I'm going with you."

Iida's frame trembled with irritation. "I am the most fit to lead our team."

Izuku raised his fist. "You want to settle this the old-fashioned way?"

The speedster was shocked at such audacity. "You would fight me at a time like this?!"

Izuku blinked. "Fight? No! I meant 'rock-paper-scissors'."

Now the speedster's jaw hit the floor. He started a rant about childishness and un-heroic behavior with the typical frantic, robotic gestures. As Izuku refused to budge, Iida reluctantly relented. Much to the diamond boy's chagrin, his rock lost to Iida's paper. The armored hero-in-training ordered his partner to stay put and guard the bomb with his life.

One after the other, minutes passed him by and each made him more bored than the last. On some alternate universes, Izuku Midoriya would be socially awkward and humble enough to obey such command. This was no such universe.

A thought struck him. " _Villains are constantly breaking the law. If I'm supposed to act as one, why should I follow any orders_."

* * *

**Meanwhile**

Kyoka Jiro hummed to herself, unplugging her earjacks from the wall.

"Iida is coming. Stick to the plan."

"Of course, Mademoiselle."

She deadpanned and listened to the increasing vibrations again. Just to be certain it was just Iida coming. Sure enough, there was no sound of _that music_.

"French boy, you know Midoriya. You ever noticed a song coming from him?"

"I never heard monsieur Midoriya singing."

"No, not singing. Like, a song coming from him. Resonating from his body."

He looked at her, puzzled. "That I haven't."

Shrugging to herself, she refocused on listening to the vibrations. Soon enough, the speedy 'villain' appeared. And the first thing he did was chuckling dramatically.

"So you have appeared, heroes! Prepare to meet your damnation!"

" _Is that dork trying to impersonate a villain?"_ Kyoka was ready to facepalm herself.

"No, villain! You will fall to our shinning might!" and of course, Aoyama reciprocated in kind. She did facepalmed herself.

" _I'm surrounded by morons!_ "

Aoyama did a dramatic pose while firing his laser and Iida easily dodged it. The 'villain' waited just one second and the blond ceased his attack to avoid a stomachache. He sped towards the dramatist with the intent of delivering a kick to knock him out of commission. Then that would Jiro to deal with.

This was how one achieves victory, whether they are villain or hero; through a coordinated, orderly strategy. Not by improvising or making up as one goes along. As the responsible one of his pair, Tenya Iida had an obligation to show his classmates, Izuku Midoriya in particular, to take the hero course seriously.

However, his attack was cut short as the ground beneath his feet broke apart, suddenly. He turned to see Jiro's ear plugged to her boot. The shaking of the floor originated from her boot! She had hooked up one of her earjacks to her boot that emitted vibrations to the ground!

" _She can make the ground vibrate!"_ Iida's hesitation was taken advantage of by Aoyama who fired another naval laser. The armored 'villain' avoided the hit, but his approach was ruined.

The bluenette retreat somewhat to re-evaluate the situation. Aoyama stood at the front with Jiro in the rear-guard. It was a logical tactic, he admitted; she could provide a defense by destabilizing his approach while Aoyama provided the offensive with his long-range quirk. No doubt thought up by the female 'hero'.

" _My goal hasn't changed. Jiro is the brain of their team. I will have to push it close to Burst._ " Doing so would give him a boost in speed at the cost of overheating and disabling his engines for a few seconds. But if he could get past Aoyama and get the jump on Jiro, it would be worth it.

"Half-power Recipro Burst!" Iida was launched forward with tremendous speed. He passed over Aoyama before the blond realized what was going on and was standing before Jiro. Deactivating the overdrive, he delivered an incapacitating kick. It connected and she was tossed against a wall, half knocked out.

Iida was unable to bind her with the tape as Aoyama fired a laser in his direction. Iida narrowly dodged it, his quirk still out of commission. He put some distance and waited the one second for Aoyama to halt his attack. And halt he did, so Iida dashed for the figurative kill.

Iida's strategy had been met with difficulties, but he had proven his mettle by thoughtfully analyzing the situation was deducing the logical route to victory. Not though a half-baked plan compensated with improvisation. Truly, Izuku Midoriya was a conundrum; on one hand he appeared to have the righteous standards of a hero. On the other, he also displayed a naïve attitude, as if being a hero is just what most people see on television.

(Iida had noticed that when he used maximum speed, somehow his brain also sped up. Like right now, he was debating himself the idiosyncrasies of his partner.)

"I do not think so, _mon ennemi!_ " To the speedster's surprise, Aoyama fired another laser, one from his left shoulder. It struck Iida dead on and pushed him back. He wasn't injured, but rather disoriented. His chest plate was smoking and dented, and his torso felt hot.

Aoyama span around, arms spread out. "The Support Department truly are masters of their art! My armor is the embodiment of both finesse and practicality. It allows me to channel my laser through anywhere I wish."

Before Iida could retaliate, his whole body was invaded by a burning, painful vibration. He turned around to see Jiro was back on her feet and had stabbed him with her earplugs. Iida felt a weakness wash over him and he nearly collapsed.

"Though luck, Iida. Maybe next time." She said with just a little bit of smug. She pulled something out of her pocket, a roll of capture tap.

It was then Iida realized he had failed, remarkably. Misanalysed the situation and underestimated his enemies. Failed as a hero-in-training. Tensei wouldn't…

"Have no fear! Why? Because I am here!" without warning, Izuku Midoriya came running in. From his spot on the ground – he was no longer plugged in – he noticed his partner's frame was emitting a faint light.

"I fine entrance, my worthy _ennemi_." Aoyama applauded genuinely. Jiro groaned and went for the attack. Izuku instantly placed all index and middle fingers against his temple and shouted:

"Iida, close your eyes."

"Wha…"

"Solar flare!" his diamond shone like a supernova, painting the entire place in light. Jiro was blinded by the assault. Izuku, unaffected by the light due to his shades, ran towards Iida and helped him up.

"Midoriya, you were supposed to be guarding the bomb!" Iida berated, still blinded.

"You sounded like you needed help."

Iida didn't retort right away. "You would have done better to warn me, first. I can't see anything."

"Didn't you close your eyes like I told you?"

Izuku's body was assaulted by the same burning vibration that Iida had been. He turned around and saw that, despite still being blinded, Jiro had figured out where he was.

" _Note to self: don't bicker with my partner if there's an enemy with a hearing quirk._ "

Jiro made a strange face and suddenly let go of him. She made a break for the stairs to the upper level. Where the bomb was!

Iida, who had recovered a little from her attack and Izuku's flash, got up and followed after her. There was no way he was going let himself lose, least of all because of his partner's blunder.

"Midoriya, stay here!"

"Wait, I set up…"

Without another word, he sped after her as much as his engines could, at the moment.

Izuku gritted his teeth. "Come on, Iida. How hard is it to listen to me?" He checked his comm-link to relay the message, but there was no response. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted an in-coming laser which he dodged.

"I will be your opponent, _mon amie_."

Izuku sighed. " _I have to warn Iida, or at least use my trump card. Better finish Aoyama quick or at least get away from him."_

"My _adversaire_ , let us fight to our hearts content and prove once and for all which one of us shines brightest."

In spite of the situation, the diamond boy couldn't help but smile. "Wouldn't have it any other way, my adversary."

* * *

Iida quickly recovered in full from Jiro's attack and easily got ahead of her, right after she reached the fifth floor where the bomb was hidden. She attempted to break the floor behind her, but Iida wouldn't fall for that again and gained enough speed to race over the walls and landed ahead of her.

"You're not moving any further, hero!"

But in the worst of all coincidences, his foot pressed a spot on the floor that Izuku had used his unique powers on.

* * *

Izuku could sometimes get easily sidetracked. But not now. He had thought ahead and opted to keep evasive during his brief battle with Aoyama. The first chance he spotted, Izuku turned tail and ran away, leaving an indignant blond behind.

" _I'll apologize later._ " He promised himself. It's not that he didn't like to win against his friend. But for his strategy to work, he needed to concentrate, and he certainly wouldn't be able to battle and focus on what he left hidden on the top floor, at the same time.

_FLASHBACK_

" _So I can't come up with a good plan, Iida?" Izuku grinned to himself, producing yet another small bubble, filled with his white, powered light. He gently placed it underneath the rubbish that covered the corridor._

_He had made his way out of the room containing the bomb, slowly creating bubbles filled with energy and hiding them on the floor. The path to the bomb was now a subtle trap._

" _Improvised land mines!" He smiled at his finished work. Better yet, he had trained his mental capacity to burst the bubbles at long range. He would have to concentrate hard enough but, if done right, the moment someone stepped on one of them, Izuku could detonate them with his mind, even if he was at the bottom floor._

_END OF FLASHBACK_

To his luck, an empty room was quick to be found. Izuku silently went in, making sure Aoyama wasn't on his tail. There was no light, which made it all the better. In the darkness, it was as if his eyes were closed, making it easy to concentrate on the mental endeavor.

Reaching out for the hidden bubble was easy enough. Despite being two floors up, given that the land-mine bubbles were loaded with energy, they were easy to sense. Like pulsars radiating in the darkness.

He grinned, focusing on the one bubble that was being pressed by the enemy's foot. And it popped.

* * *

**With Iida VS Jiro**

BOOM!

Jiro cried out and instinctively stepped back when the floor beneath Iida exploded in a white burst of light. The explosion was localized enough not to harm her, but the armored 'villain' was blasted upwards. He made a comical imprint of his frame in the ceiling, eyes and mouth included, before falling down.

Her first instinct was to ask if he was alright but seeing how quickly he got back on his feet, she figured he would live.

"For the record, that wasn't my doing." She declared, being just as perplexed as him. Iida looked her with suspicion and moved cautiously a few steps back.

Big mistake. Another explosion from the floor tossed Iida up, making a second imprint on the ceiling. This time, Jiro allowed herself to laugh, yet she had the wisdom of stealthily plugging one her jacks on the floor.

Having had a second round, Iida wizened up and didn't take another step. He looked at the ground warily and then at her, eyes narrowed.

"I swear, that's..." She stopped herself midsentence. Those white flash explosions were definitely Midoriya's work. Coupled by the fact that underneath the floor, she sensed spheres vibrating slightly but with great frequency; those were certainly his bubbles. But why wouldn't Iida know about them? Come to think of it, those two didn't seem very cooperative with one another on the lower floor. "that's all my doing."

Iida almost made a move, but hesitated.

"You may not want to take another step." He fell for her bluff and didn't move. Her eyes darted around, looking from one spot to the next. In reality, she was making a mental map of the safe spots. Iida's own eyes noticed her earplug piercing the ground and narrowed. Iida was a smart guy and could counter-attack or call her bluff any moment. She needed a distraction and fast.

"Hey, Iida!" she grabbed a piece of the floor that broke off in the first detonation. "Think fast!" she tossed it to the floor in front of Iida where another mine was hidden. It detonated, tossing him back further.

Now was her chance! She half-run, half-leaped from one memorized safe spot to the next. She got ahead of a startled, half-stunned Iida. He got up and raced after her, but promptly stepped on another land-mine. His bearings were regained just in time to see Jiro making a hard turn to the room with…

"THE BOMB!" his echoing cry was followed by All Might's loud announcement.

" _The Hero Team wins!"_

* * *

**On the bottom floor.**

Izuku grinned, ear to ear. "Yes!" then his grin fell. "Wait, what?"

* * *

**On the observation room.**

The air was saturated with the sound of laughter from a single student. Katsuki Bakugo laughed and chuckled and wheezed his ass off like there was no tomorrow.

"Deku Diamond, you're a dumbass!"

Soon enough, the four participants returned to the observation room. The hero pair looked quite pleased with themselves. The villain pair, definitely not.

All Might asked for who could point who the MVP was. A tall girl, Momo Yaoyorozu, declared. "The obvious choice is Jiro. She took the lead of her team and exploited the situation to her advantage on the fifth floor against Iida. Aoyama followed her instructions succinctly, but after Midoriya broke contact with him, he chased after without stopping to check if the villain hid himself, which was what Midoriya truly did."

Needless to say, Iida and Izuku were feeling quite disgruntled and embarrassed with themselves. Bakugo was giving the white-haired boy a mocking smirk which he did his best to ignore.

Yaoyorozu moved on to describe the villain team's flaws. "As for the villain team, Midoriya left the bomb completely unguarded. In spite of mounting a good defense around the perimeter, due to his absence, it backfired against his teammate. Iida, he rushed to face-off against two opponents, at once. He should have either split them up and deal with each, separately. Or tried to stall their advance with quick attacks that they would be unable to counter, while keeping himself out of actual confrontation.

"Nonetheless, as a team, their main and shared mistake was a complete lack of communication and coordination."

As the girl went on, Izuku found himself humbly agreeing with her assessment. He lifted his head and noticed Iida had an expression much akin to his own.

All Might declared her criticism to be spot on and turned to all the class. "This was just an example of how a battle between good and evil might go. Sometimes villains band together in ragtag teams with not sense of organization, but increasingly that is not the case. To combat the more organized villains, pros who in some cases never met, must team-up on the spot. This is meant to teach you all how to cooperate with others on the fly.

"Don't be discouraged, though. You are all here to learn. Not just from your teachers, but also from each other. Take your limitations and endeavor to overcome them. That's what the school's motto is all about. Plus Ultra!"

It was hard to stay downtrodden when the Symbol of Peace and Justice showed off his rousing smile. Just like when Izuku cheered up the class at Aizawa's class, only with more energy and much faster, everyone shouted out the motto.

The third match started, with Tsuiu and a boy with a bird head, Tokoyami as the heroes. Izuku found himself watching attentively besides Iida. Since entering the observation room, he remained beside his former partner. And Iida made no attempt to move aside. That was no coincidence.

Iida produced a sigh which Izuku wagered it was meant to catch his attention. He thought so because he was about to do the same. "Midoriya, I have to apologize for my actions. I let my desire to prove myself influence my decisions and acted rashly."

Izuku hummed. "Yeah, I didn't do that good, either. I should have told you I had booby-trapped the corridor." He berated himself in the privacy of his thoughts. " _And I should have guessed Iida would overtake Jiro. Make things better? What a joke! There's no way I could have made this thing worse, even if I actually tried."_

A pregnant pause followed. Finally, the little diamond suddenly asked. "Why did you want to follow your plan so badly?"

Iida blinked, taken aback, and replied after a pregnant pause. "Because…I believe I can be a good leader."

The diamond boy shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I'm not interested in leading. So I can't judge you in any way." He paused to gather his thoughts. In his opinion, Tenya Iida was still an uptight guy with a bit of a control freak edge. He still didn't feel like he could cooperate with Iida, but for sure, he had to try. How else could he improve himself.

"Iida, how about, next time we have to work together, we take more time to talk and plan?" he offered a hand. Iida looked at it and shook it.

"I agree. But perhaps, we might have to improvise, as you said. No plan survives contact with the enemy, after all."

The handshake had the same feeling as their expressions. It was honest and cordial, but not friendly. They vowed to themselves to do better next time. They'd do it for themselves, but not each other. The diamond and the speedster would work to become proper allies. Yet, that didn't make them friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, our screw ups are the harshest, best teachers in our lives. I know many of you might say Iida and/or Izuku were too OOC, let me explain. First, this version of Izuku is different from cannon. He wasn't as much of a social outcast, so he can at times be a little more mischievous and less serious. As for Iida, Izuku's apparent lack of seriousness triggered him to prove himself a bit too intensively.  
> Signing out!


	6. Colorful Quartet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little breather before the expected climax of the USJ.

"… _for the first half of the decade of 2020, the infamous COVID-19 dispensed immense and unforeseen misery and suffering upon the human race..."_

The cool, moist air of dawn helped Izuku rejuvenate his stamina. He slowed his pace, his muscles pleased with the short reprieve.

He paused the audiobook and checked the time. "Half an hour. Better than my last record, at least."

To evolve at UA, he had to go 'Plus Ultra' on all of his efforts. In order to make time, he put studying and training into one. Morning runs and exercises recommended by hero training websites while listening to audio books on the various subjects of highschool. At UA, even teachers of non-heroic subjects like Math and History took teaching to another level.

The phone beeped, indicating the break was over. He pressed the audio book to play and restarted running.

* * *

Today's morning class started with homeroom. Eraserhead gave a report on their performance in the battle trial class under All Might, the day before. Each student was handed a written sheet of paper. Glancing around at the grimacing faces of his classmates told the diamond boy the lines were crude and unsympathetic criticism. The sleep-deprived teacher added a few spoken critics as a cherry on top.

"Iida, for your sake, avoid becoming a one-trick pony. Better than to have a plan of action is to have several. Learn to improvise on the fly."

"Midoriya, take things seriously. Outside, you have to be in full control of the situation. Leave nothing to chance or it will cost you lives."

The diamond boy nodded awkwardly. Those were probably deserved, he guessed, after the poor practice Iida and he demonstrated at the battle trial. The runner had opted for a strict plan with no room for improvisation which led him to be captured. Izuku's idea was more fluid, perhaps a bit too much as the lack of communication caused Iida to fall for the diamond boy's laid trap.

Aizawa-sensei announced the class was to select a president and vice. The cacophony that sprang was ended when Iida suggested they have a democratic vote.

Izuku stared at the blank piece of paper. An idea had been chewing at the insides of his skull and he felt it wouldn't leave him alone until he went along with it. Despite a tiny part of himself telling him it was a wasteful idea, he threw said part to the wind.

The results were pretty split considering virtually everyone voted for themselves. Momo Yaororozu was declared the winner by a total of two votes. Opting not to have a re-election for the position of vice-president, she handpicked Tsuyu Asui for the job.

* * *

"Phew!" Izuku sighed in relief. Lunchtime was the only part on his new schedule when he could totally relax. Even though today's homeroom class was mostly mellowed down.

He casted a sideways glance when he heard an exclamation of giggles a few tables to the left. The girls of 1-A were celebrating for two of them having been elected, by that Ashido girl's insistence. In spite of Yaoyorozu's pleads they should be quieter, the girls insisted on making a little party and congratulating the two girls for 'acing the elections', as the pink girl put it. They congratulated Yaomomo's level-headedness and for not being a stuck-up like Iida. And Asui, so calm and collected, would made a great second-in-command.

When Aoyama came to join him for lunch, Izuku motioned to the girl's party with a chuckle:

"I don't think that party will end with lunch."

"It is a disappointment I was not elected." Aoyamma sighed.

Izuku shrugged. "Well, we can't win them all." That peeked the blond's curiosity.

"I take it you voted for yourself, too."

The diamond boy almost chocked, feeling a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I thought being class president would be a good way to test myself. You know how sometimes having heavy responsibilities makes a person shape up to them. Since Aizawa-sensei said I need to take things more serious and all…" he trailed off there, now realizing what a poor idea that had been in practice.

"So your goal was to put yourself through another test." Aoyamma smiled. "I should not be surprised. You are always trying to evolve."

"Thanks."

" _Mais_ , trying to become a leader when you feel you are not suited for it is not a very responsible thing to do, _mon amie_."

Izuku deflated. "Again, thanks. Oh hey, Kirishima!"

The red-haired, shark-toothed boy returned the greeting as he was passing by. Ashido suddenly got up and intercepted him. She said something they couldn't hear, then became disappointed with Kirishima's reply, whatever it was.

_That lunch would be remembered an intruder alert. The cafeteria was in a panic that only settled when a third-year student with a strange face announced it was a false alarm. Days later we'd learn the alarm wasn't that false._

* * *

The afternoon lessons were wholly focused on pro-hero training. Today, under All Might's nubile teaching methods again, they would be reviewing their performances. Class 1-A had moved to a computer room where each student could watch the full footage of their Battle Trial. The Number One pro declared that no one could reach the top unless they faced up their shortcomings. But advised them to make haste, as they would only have 10 minutes to evaluate the footage.

Izuku observed his own blunders with a steely look. He didn't shy away from revisiting his mistakes. Although, he couldn't deny watching Iida hitting the ceiling multiple times due to his landmines was actually funny.

Afterwards, the class was moved to a battle gymnasium where they would engage on one-on-one fights against another classmate. Each student would participate in two battles. Victory would go to whom forced their opponent out of the square ring, made them surrender or immobilized them.

Izuku's first battle was against a silent, strange fellow named Tokoyami.

"Despite our contrasting natures, I hold you no enmity, soul of light." His opponent said at the beginning of the match as a form of greeting, which Izuku awkwardly reciprocated. All Might offered a few tips on how they could improve. He particularly noted Tokoyami's over-reliance on the

Tokoyami's quirk was an odd one; a sentient avian-like being made of darkness that he controlled. He had heard some commenting that the bird boy's quirk was a pretty tough one. As soon as it emerged, it lunged for an attack. Izuku tossed some bubble-bullets. It dodged some but at least two hit him, exploding in its face. Dark Shadow stopped dead in its tracks, clutching its body.

Realizing that his bubbles could hurt him, he tossed more in an effort to distract the quirk and leave the user defenseless. It was after a light blast that Izuku discovered Dark Shadow was weak against the light. So he unleashed a Solar Flare, making sure he closed his eyes. His gamble worked as Dark Shadow was greatly diminished and confounded. Izuku raced against his opponent and shoved him out of bounds.

The victor promptly helped his opponent back to his feet, in the spirit of sportsmanship. The seemingly anti-social boy held no grudge and even shook his hand cordially. All Might offered tips on how to improve their performance, particularly on Tokoyami's over-reliance on his quirk.

The matches progressed. Aoyama lost both of his.

His second challenge was against the tallest of the class, Shoji Mezo, the boy of multiple arms. Somewhat like Tokoyami, he was a silent type who preferred to fade into the backstage. The mutant-type greeted him friendly. Despite his frightening appearance, he gave off the vibe of a gentle giant.

Izuku noted his opponent was much fitter than himself, so attempting to push him out like before was a no go. Izuku attempted to fire energy beams but Shoji proved to be fast and agile for his size. When he got too close, Izuku made a desperate move with a Solar Flare. Thinking he had successfully blinded his opponent, Izuku moved a bit away and try and prepare a surprise attack. Without warning, Shoji grabbed him by the arm and flung him out of bounds.

"My quirk also gives me a keen sense of hearing." He divulged after helping Izuku up and apologizing if he roughed him up too much. Shoji was truly the gentle giant of 1-A. All Might proceeded to lecture Izuku's need to train his reaction time.

The rest of the class progressed somewhat dull in Izuku's perspective, probably because he didn't expect any more fight. The one highlight was Aoyama's second match…which ended even quicker than the first. To be fair, that Todoroki fellow was one pretty tough costumer.

* * *

"I'm so tired I think my diamond is about to crack."

It felt like a blessing when the school day was officially over as he walked at a slow pace out of campus. Thankfully to his morning exercise routine, most of the exhaustion was mental rather than physical.

He checked his cellphone to see what remember what was on the agenda for the rest of the day. Only one appointment, one that he had postpone since last week due to still getting used to the new school regime.

"I got to make time for them, today."

"Hey, Midoriya!" he was brought out of his own thoughts by a loud call-out from Ashido. She ran towards him and stopped, seemingly not fatigued. "Yo, Tsu-chan and I were going to hang out. Wanna come with?"

Izuku considered it. He would rather rest for a bit, but then again there was still plenty of time and he had no plans for a while.

"Sure. As long its not too long. We have homework and I have an appointment, later." Then he spotted his closest friend approaching. "Mind if Aoyamma comes too?"

Ashido shrugged with a playful smirk. "Sure, you sparkly boys go hand-in-hand, don't you?"

* * *

"Spare!" Ashido shouted. The remaining pins were knocked down.

"How does that count as a 'spare'? You used up the two balls and knocked all pins. There's nothing to spare."

Mina _tsked_ with a patient, knowing smile, as if lecturing a toddler. "A 'spare' is when you knock down all 10 pins using up the two balls."

Izuku made an 'oh' of understanding.

Asui hummed. "Is bowling a hobby of yours?"

Ashido's idea of a hangout activity was going to the bowling gym nearby. Originally, none of the others were very intrigued by the idea, but the extroverted girl's demeanor swayed them to give it a try. She revealed she herself visited the place seldom. The person at the counter who handed them the balls was a mutant-type whose enormous body was made of stone. His mouth was crooked with sharp teeth. In spite of his monstrous appearance, the man's voice was acquainted with and friendly towards Mina.

"Not that much of a hobby. My dad showed me this, once. Used to be a hobby of _his_. To me it's more like an interesting distraction."

"If you do not like it, why play it at all?" Aoyama asked, so far the least interested in the activity.

"It's a good way of meeting new people. And sometimes 'old people'. I befriended Kirishima here, even though we went to the same middle school. And that big guy." she pointed to the stone behemoth at the counter. "Once, he was looking for a hero agency but the girls he asked for directions were too scared of him. Not that he was really a bad guy. He just gave that impression. So I pointed him in the right way. Later I found out he works here and can be kind nice when you get to know him."

_I learnt then that Ashido had her own way of helping others. In a way, she was like All Might, bringing joy and smile to everyone else. So I asked her to teach me how to bowl. Aoyamma followed suite. And soon enough, we had fun with a small bowling competition._

_Then I thought of introducing my friends to a place I knew myself._

* * *

"This is Bingo Bongo Sweets. The owner is a friend of mine. I think you'll find common ground with him, Ashido."

After the bowling match was done, with Ashido the unsurprising winner, Izuku suggested they go to a place he knew well.

They entered to see the establishment mostly vacated save for a few patrons having coffee. Upon spotting Izuku, foreigner pink-skinned employee greeted him jovially, not just professionally. The diamond boy introduced him as the owner of the Bingo Bongo Sweets bakery, Mathew Moy.

Ashido was quite intrigued in meeting someone with a quirk so apparently similar to hers. Though, Moy clarified his quirk merely turned his skin pink and nothing else. Still, she engaged the adult in conversation and found him pretty easy to get along.

Asui and Aoyama were checking the show window.

"There are many sweets here I've never seen. My siblings would love this." The frog girl commented. Izuku asked her about them and she described her little brother and sister.

"Oh, those are _crêpes._ They are a specialty from my homeland."

"Yep, Mr. Moy makes all sorts of international stuff." Izuku grinned.

Asui casted the man a sideways glance. "He must have travelled a lot to learn so much. Yet he doesn't seem very old. Is baking a family business to him? Most of these recipes could have been inherited from his parents or grandparents."

Izuku hummed. "Good question. Come to think of it, Mr. Moy doesn't speak much about himself. Only that he came here from America years ago to open up this bakery."

Back with the pink pair, Moy posed a question:

"So why do you want to be a hero, Ashido?"

She grinned. "I like making other people happy and helping others is fun."

Moy showed a very small smile. He could tell she spoke truthfully, but there was something amiss. Or rather, something was present that normally shouldn't for someone so young. There was a need, a reason, a motivation behind that desire to 'make other people happy'. It's something that Izuku himself was missing.

"Good for you. And good for Izuku to be your friend. Make sure that boy keeps his goal as straightforward as yours."

"Sure thing." The girl wasn't sure what he meant by that, but agreed, nonetheless.

They left Bingo Bongo, Aoyama and Asui bags on their hands full of baked goods. Ashido suggested they go to the arcade next. Izuku checked his cellphone for time and was disappointed to see it was getting late.

"Sorry, I can't. I have another appointment."

Ashido looked a tad disapointed. "Oh, come on. I was hoping to make this a class bonding fun-time, but everybody was too busy. And now you're going too, Midoriya?"

"In all fairness, we all just met, so it's normal. Some of us are still getting used to the new routine." Asui's wise observation fell on deaf ears.

"Well, I've known Kirishima since elementary school and he was a no-show. Said he has a lot of training to put in, now that he's competing in UA."

"I'd say he was quite intense while watching the battle trial. That must have motivated him." Asui opined.

Izuku felt they were losing the subject and had to remind himself he had to go. "Guys, I have to go. There are some people I..."

"Wait, some people?" Ashido's lips curled upwards in a smile. "Are you going to meet other people, or other _girls_?"

Izuku hesitated. He wasn't sure what their reaction would be if they knew…The universe whimsically decided to save him the choice, as Ashido's cell started beeping, with a catchy tune. She excused herself and picked up. Turned out her parents needed her home sooner than she expected.

"Looks like I got to split, too. But how about we take a big one to celebrate the moment." She waved her cellphone to indicate her meaning. They agreed to take one group picture.

Mina squated and extended her hand hold the cell upwards so that her face was at the bottom of the picture. At her indication, Asui and Aoyama took positions above and at her sides, the girl at the right and the boy at the left. Izuku got the top spot, his face nestled above and between the blond and greenette. When he asked why he got the top, Mina shrugged and just said he earned it by showing them to Bingo Bongo.

"Say 'cheesecake'!"

The picture displayed a rough rhombusof faces. The pink girl at the bottom. Frog girl at the middle right and French boy at the middle left. Finally, the diamond child at the top of the rhombus.

After a farewell, Ashido and Aoyama went their own ways. Asui turned to Izuku. "I still have some free time, Izuku-chan. I can accompany you, if you don't mind."

"It's not that I don't mind. It's just that you might not be interested, Tsuyu."

She put a finger to her chin and asked what it was. He answered and she readily agreed to go with.

As she followed him, a loud, familiar whistle drew Asui's attention. Ashido hadn't quite left yet. She winked at the frog girl and mouthed the words: 'tell me, later.'

* * *

The journey involved some more walking and a bus journey. All while the diamond boy spared sideways glances at the frog girl. If she noticed, she was unperturbed. To increase the discomfort, she didn't even engage in much talk, save for a commentary or afterthought. Or the gratitude for showing her to Bingo-Bongo.

He stopped by a three-story building with a courtyard surrounding it. It was taller than the surrounding infrastructure and not sandwiched between others. It looked old, despite appearing well maintained enough and steady on the outside.

"Here we are. My old stomping grounds." Izuku sighed with a feeling she couldn't quite place but was certainly not nostalgia.

"Saisei Orphanage." Asui read the tittle in the large board above the entrance. 'Saisei' meant 'rebirth'.

"The name is just that. Sad truth is, very few kids had a good 'rebirth' after leaving here. I am one of such rare cases." His smile didn't carry that shine that Asui was used to see in class.

They went inside to meet a middle-aged receptionist behind a counter. She turned from her computer to give a quick look and a tired smile to Izuku.

"Hello again, Midoriya."

"Good morning, Mrs. Aiko." The woman's eyes travelled to his classmate who bowed and introduced herself.

Aiko motioned to the corridor to their left. "The children are in the playground. They'll be glad to see you."

"You come here often, Izuku-chan? Ribbit."

"Whenever I can. It's been a while, though. My time here was short, and I barely remember it. Apparently my biological family was killed in a fire that destroyed their apartment building. I don't know a thing about them, not even their names. When I was four, my mom came by and adopted me."

"You live only with your mother?"

Izuku hesitated, his stepping faltered for a moment. "Yeah. My adoptive father, Hisashi Midoriya, left about a year after I was adopted to work overseas. He sends over money every month." He refrained from mentioning the subject of Mr. Midoriya was always a delicate one when he brought it up in front of his mother. Inko preferred to speak of her absent husband only when necessary.

"So, your mother is the only family member you've lived with, Izuku-chan?"

He nodded.

"Are you happy?"

He nodded again.

"That's good." after a croak, she continued. "In my case, I have a family perhaps too large. I live with my parents and my two younger siblings. Sometimes, my aunt stays over for a few days. It can be a house full, but I'm happy and that's all that matters." She gave him a wide smile that Izuku couldn't help but reciprocate. That was probably her attempt to comfort him. Not that he needed such; he answered honestly when he said he was happy with his very small family. But it was still sweet of her.

They crossed the doors to the playground outside to see clutches of boys and girls of kindergartener ages playing alone, in pairs or in small clutches. That resemblance of order crashed when Izuku's presence was noted by a lone boy with four eyes.

"It's Izu-chan!"

The little ones came clustering around the older boy, hugging his legs, speaking loudly and simultaneously. He chuckled and asked for silence, but the children wouldn't listen. So tried a more practical approach; clapped his hands loudly, producing a large amount of sparkles like tiny fireworks that awed and silenced the children. He addressed one of them, a little girl.

"Okay, what have you been up to, Kiri?"

"I got my quirk! I can sparkly like you!" she waved her hands to demonstrate.

Izuku attended to a child, one by one. Even performed more demonstrations with his light powers to satisfy them. All the while, Asui observed from the sidelines with a wide smile.

A little boy of black hair approached her. "Who are you, miss?"

She bent down to meet the boy's face. "My name is Tsuyu, but you can call me Tsu-chan."

He nodded in understanding. "Are you Izu-chan's girlfriend?"

She croaked and replied steadily. "No, I'm just his friend. We attend the same class of UA."

"UA?" of course the little one wouldn't know what UA is.

"A high-school for heroics."

The little one beamed. "You and Izu-chan are heroes?!" he ran off the others surrounding the diamond boy and spread the news. Instantly, what little order Izuku was able to instill collapsed. The orphans started a riot of questions and exclamations.

Tsuyu chuckled watching her poor classmate dealing with the fallout. " _Izuku-chan you're already a hero to some people_."

To reinstall order, Izuku gave another surprise that caught Tsuyu's interest. He displayed his right index finger for everyone to see. The appendage emitted a faint glow and started changing. Growing a swollen, round tip and hair. In seconds, the finger had become a miniature puppet shaped after Izuku himself, with white hair and even a little jewel on the forehead.

"Look everyone, it's Minizuku-chan!" the diamond boy introduced the shape-shifted finger.

Reactions were somewhat mixed; boys found it either 'gross and cool' or 'weird and cool'. Most girls' fell into the category of 'cute', a minority saying it was 'gross'. When asked for more, he started a session of bubble tricks. Izuku would make bubbles float and the children tried to hop and pop them.

Now with hands less full, Tsuyu took the opportunity to ask him about this new revealed ability.

"Shape-shifting is something I've had for almost a year, now. I haven't gotten the chance to train it much. It's really hard and even painful." He said with a sad smile. "So I abstain from using it much. Only on my fingers."

She adopted that pensive-finger-on-the-chin look. "So you minimize the pain by restraining that power to your finger? Clever. A bit risky, but clever."

He shrugged. "Well, it's not like shape-shifting causes real damage whenever I use it, like breaking bones. That would suck."

The afternoon passed them by fast as they engaged in some games to entertain the orphans. Tsuyu proved to be an expert at appeasing the children. When they would pout or throw a tantrum, she kept collected and argued patiently. Izuku admired her talent.

Mrs. Aiko came to tell them visiting hours were almost over so the UA students' excused themselves, much to the kids' disappointment. Izuku promised he would visit again, someday. His pale cheeks reddened with embarrassment when one of the girls demanded that Izuku brings his 'green girlfriend' next, too. To add pepper to injury, the others began chanting 'green girlfriend' in unison. Izuku's pink blush spread to the center, uniting over the skin on his nose. He didn't dare to look at Tsuyu.

Seemingly taking pity on him, the girl assured the children she would try to come with Izuku next. The pair bid farewell and only after a full minute of walking did he dare to look at the girl and apologized. She waved it all off and thanked him for the experience. The two went their separate ways upon arriving at the station.

* * *

By the time he arrived home, the sun had already set. His mom had phoned him on the way, sounding just a little bit worried. He hastily explained the afternoon he spent with his new friends. That relieved her immediately.

That night, after a shower and a warm dinner, Izuku had another vivid dream. The kind of dream he would remember in detail after waking up the next morning.

It was tempered with a fair does of ludicrousness, this dream _…_

_He and his new friends were spending a day at the swimming pool. The ludicrous part was that Asui's neck was ridiculously long. She wore a yellow one-piece swim suite. Another thing was Aoyama, who wore a long blue hood over his person. The two sat by the edge of the pool, like they were expecting him. Izuku approached and sat in between the two, with Asui by his left and Aoyama by his right._

_An excited shout brought their eyes to a newcomer. It was Ashido in a magenta swimsuit. Rather than sit with them, she jumped over the edge and went cannonball in. The three friends were splashed but didn't mind. Ashido became a pink, sunk speck at the bottom. Bubbles raised to the surface, unleashing a melody when each met the outside air._

_She was singing._

" _It's 'A star is born'." Asui said in an emotionless tone._

" _Non, non. It is 'Tilted' by Christine and the Queens." Aoyama interjected._

" _I still think it's 'Diamonds' by Rihanna." Izuku opined._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The picture Izuku and friends took is a reference. By now it should be obvious.
> 
> Izuku's powers so far:  
> \+ Light: He can emit light from his gem, either in a beam of scattered. The light can be just for illumination or a form of energy attack.
> 
> Moves:  
> «» Diamond Blast: fires a beam of energy from his gem or hands. From the gem is more potent but harder to aim.  
> «» Solar Flare: emits a sudden flash of light from his gem that temporarily blinds nearby enemies
> 
> +Bubble: Can create translucid white bubbles from his hands. The bubbles can float in midair and are perfect for storing stuff. The size and hardness of the bubbles can vary; the harder and bigger, the longer it takes to make one. To maximize its potential, Izuku creates bubble-bullets; very tough bubbles the size of peas to try to minimize the production time. This is Izuku's most versatile and explored ability.
> 
> Moves:  
> «» Diamond Smash: Creates bubble-bullets that can be easily shot with a flick of fingers. Basic move for melee long-range offensive.  
> «» Light Grenade: to compensate for the aiming problem of firing a Diamond Blast from the forehead, Izuku invented this move. He creates a soft bubble the size of an orange and fills it with energy from his gem. Then tosses it like a bomb or a grenade. Alternatively, he can place them on the ground, hidden, like land-mines.
> 
> +Shapeshifting: Theoretically, Izuku can shape-shift his entire body, but due to the mental and physical stress he takes, he hasn't even tried. The best he can do is shape-shift his finger to minimize the pain. So far, this ability has no use for heroics.
> 
> +Mind-wipe: Discovered by accident in the aftermath of the sludge villain attack, this power first activated when Izuku was in danger. A flash of light erupted from his gem, knocking out the aggressor and wiped a whole week of his memory. So far, it activated only on that time. Izuku has made no attempt to rediscover or train this ability.
> 
> +Super-strength: Completely unreliable. Activates only when Izuku is in true life danger.
> 
> +Super-endurance: Resistance to physical damage. Completely unreliable. Activates only when Izuku is in true life danger.


	7. Bad Day at USJ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, the end of this chapter and the next will have an increase in violence. This chapter marks a point where things get more tragic and grim. It's not like everything will be gloomy from now on, in the story. But being assaulted, threatened with death and witness how cruel some people can be is something that will mark Izuku.

" _How did this whole thing come apart?_ " Izuku Midoriya shouted as the current predicament seemed to get grimmer. The day had started as a very promising day for something awesome. Hours later, he was surrounded by menacing villains along with two other classmates.

* * *

**Hours before**

This Friday had started out as any other day that was steadily becoming Izuku's UA routine. Except for the tinge of trepidation over what the rumors spoke of. That today was the promise day of a special class. It was either very good or very bad. Considering class 1-A homeroom teacher was Shota Aizawa, it was more of option B.

"Today we will be doing rescue training. Shipwrecks, fires, natural disasters and the like. The lesson will be lectured by myself and other two teachers, on an off-campus site."

Per the teacher's order, they collected their suites, changed hastily and proceeded to a waiting bus.

Izuku found himself sitting by Iida's side. The two boys were in an unspoken cordial truce after their disastrous joint performance at the battle trial.

"Iida, what's eating you?"

The boy in light armor looked at him, like Izuku had said the strangest thing. "Nothing is eating me, Midoriya. In fact, if I was being devoured, I would not be so relaxed."

The diamond boy restrained a nervous chuckled. This guy didn't have the slightest idea of slang or was just too literal. "No, I meant to ask why you look so upset."

Iida sighed. "I confess I am disappointed with myself. I had hoped to be class representative. I believe I have the skills to be a great leader. But alas, the consensus is that most of our classmates look at Yaoyorozu and Asui for guidance."

Izuku digested that. He had voted for himself in hopes that having responsibilities would force him to shape-up. In hindsight, as Aoyama said, it was a very poor idea and a waste of his vote. He decided then and there to never tell the bespectacled boy the reason why he voted for himself. No need to make him more hostile.

"What would you have done if you were elected?" Izuku asked.

That perked up the boy's mood. He spoke dramatically again, making his trademark robotic hand gestures. "Had I been elected, I would have made the class enter this bus in an orderly, alphabetic order."

Izuku hummed. "I think that's why nobody else voted for you. Iida, you tend to overdo it. You try too hard."

"Trying too hard is what anyone who is proud of being a UA student strives for." Iida retorted like explaining that two plus two equals four.

"Sure, but has it occurred to you that some of your…" Izuku paused to search for a term. "policies are impractical. For example, that idea of entering in alphabetic order. What would that accomplish?"

Iida prattled on about the advantages of entering in alphabetic order, allowing Izuku no chance to comment. The conversation remained mostly one-sided until the bus came to a sudden stop and Aizawa announced they had arrived.

The destination turned out to be a large domed structure, easily occupying an area of a neighborhood. The outside of the dome was bare, giving no indication what purpose it served.

The teacher and class promptly exited the bus went inside where they met the second instructor for the lesson: Space Hero, Thirteen. A pro-hero – potentially a woman – famous for her expertise in rescue missions. She was of average size and wore a space suite that left everything to imagination. Perhaps even _her_ gender. Thirteen introduced herself as the main instructor for rescue training and briefly divulged how their practical class would go. Then she started a discourse about a more serious topic:

"Before we begin, let me say something you may need to hear. For those who don't know, my quirk—Black Hole – can absorb anything and disintegrate it instantly. Though I made it handy to rescue civilians, it can easily kill someone if misused. I'm sure some of you possess or have seen quirks like that."

She paused for effect. "In a superhuman society, quirks with a significant potential to cause damage for the user or others have been certified and closely regulated, so such quirks are often looked as relatively harmless by the general public. However, please do not forget that there are many Quirks that can easily kill with the wrong move.

"In Aizawa's fitness test, you got an idea of your quirk's maximum. In All Might's combat-oriented lesson, you experienced using your powers on others. Today, you will learn the core value of heroism; that is to use your abilities to help others. You don't have powers to use them to harm others."

Upon hearing that, Izuku's mind travelled backwards to the incident with the sludge villain. Months ago he was attacked by a villain made of slime and his powers reacted out of whack, knowing the attacker out. All Might showed up afterwards and picked up the villain. Later a detective went to his house to inform him the captured villain had experienced memory loss. The cause had been Izuku's strange powers. Though he was assured the villain would recover, it fueled more motivation for him to learn to fully control his enigmatic abilities.

So consumed Izuku was with his thoughts, he failed to notice the demeanor changed drastic and instantly. The lights went out. Something dark and purplish manifested swirling at the center of the plaza. Strange people poured out of the ominous vortex. The teachers tensed immediately whereas the students were confused.

"Stand back! Those are real villains!" Aizawa leaped without hesitation to handle the small army of criminals. The class was rushed to the exit by Thirteen, but their path was blocked by the same dark purplish fog from before. It had two yellow, slated eyes and spoke:

"Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Please, pardon us for inviting ourselves into the grounds of the prestigious UA. We are here to ensure All Might, the Symbol of Peace and Justice, takes his last breath."

But All Might hadn't show up. Izuku vaguely recalled Aizawa and Thirteen whispering something about All Might running late and something about three, or whatever.

Kirishima and Bakugo lunged at the mist villain but their joint attack proved fruitless.

"Oh, my…that was quite dangerous. Even though you are still children, it's apparent you show great promise for heroism. My role is to scatter you all and have my associates torture you to death. My apologies."

The dark fog surrounded them all. Izuku felt the ground beneath his feet disappear and he fell.

* * *

**Mountain Zone**

He landed on his front, rather gracelessly. He joked how Aoyamma would criticize him for falling with such lack of beauty. A quick look at his surroundings told him he was in the mountain area. Kind of obvious when all around him was rock and dirt. Also the large mountain was a dead giveaway.

Another vortex manifested above him. On instinct, he went for a pouch on his utility belt and grabbed three bubble-bullets ready to throw them at any in-coming enemy. To his relief, two of his classmates were deposited, Yaoyorozu and Jiro. The former of whom did a short flip in midair and landed on her feet.

" _She must have had training in gymnastics._ "

The girls didn't even have the luxury of collecting their bearings as a third portal appeared, a much wider one. One by one, villains poured out. Obviously, that warpgate villain was much gentler when sending over his comrades.

"I guess we're fighting." The diamond boy grinned grimly, still holding the marbles.

To the girls' credit, they quickly composed themselves and took battle stances. Yaoyorozu created a bo staff for a weapon. She glanced at her classmates:

"Do either of you need anything?"

"I'm good."

"I could use a sword." A blade began to slowly protuberate from Momo's back. She noticed now the majority of their enemies were armed with knives or makeshift swords. " _Most of the enemies are armed. Yet they hesitate to attack_."

Jiro had her own thoughts, which unconscious followed her classmates reasoning. " _They must be wary of what our quirks might be. So they planned to overwhelm us with numbers against a mountain."_

Izuku made a ghost of a grin. " _But their fear might work in our advantage. It wouldn't do to discuss a plan while they can hear…Unless they don't understand the meaning_!"

"Hey, Jiro. Remember what I did at the battle trial to get Iida away from you?" He gave her a sideways glance, praying to whatever deity that she took his meaning. Her response was just a brief look of confusion and then realization.

"Go for it." With fast reflexes, she closed her eyes and covered a surprised Yaoyorozu's.

Finger to his temple, Izuku shouted. "Solar Flare!"

The area was bathed in blinding light, which the heroes took the opportunity to escape.

* * *

"Damn! Where did the brats go?"

"No way they could have gotten far."

"The girl with the big boobs is mine."

"Shut the hell up, all of ya!" shouted one above all the rest. This villain was the only one not yielding a bladed weapon. His face was concealed by a steel helmet. "They didn't teleport away. While we were blinded, I heard them running."

The evil cadre paused in something akin to respect. There was no strict hierarchy in the League, barring the obvious fact that Shigaraki stood atop of the pyramid. The big boss had the League's members separated into parties, each assigned to a different part of the USJ. Whoever led these parties, was up to the members to decide. Naturally this led to some in-fighting before a leader was decided. But not in this team; no, Deathvolt was infamous enough on the streets to be feared as the temporary leader.

The helmet-wearing villain looked down and spotted three trails of footprints. "They went that way." Deathvolt moved and motioned them to follow. Barring a mutant-type of blue skin and four arms. This one also didn't wield a blade; his four upper limbs were bladed:

"And what makes ya the boss, _Deadbolt_." The blue, four-armed cretin was a street thug who got by through petty thievery. One of the few who wasn't fearful of Deathvolt. "I don't see what every one of these wannabees is so scared of you."

Wordlessly, Deathvolt produced an object from a belt pouch. It was a hand-held device similar in structure to a tuning fork.

"You wanna know why I should be leading, shit stain? For starters, I'm one of the very few Shigaraki entrusted with one of these."

The upstart hesitated, eyeing the object like it was a rattle snake fixated solely on him.

"You saw one of these at work, right? Want me to test it out on you?" and the mutant-type backed down completely. Deathvolt pocketed the menacing weapon. "But tell you what. You wanna go get the first kill, go ahead. Take whoever you want with you."

The mutant-type was all too happy to do so. He picked five others to accompany him.

Deathvolt smirked under his helmet as he watched the pawns go first. There's a reason why the pawns always are sent in first.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at the shipwreck zone.**

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" one Denki Kaminari was hanging nearer and nearer the water, tied by the waist by a rubber rope that Asui and Mineta were gradually lowering.

"Shut up and do your thing!" Mineta half-growled, half-pleaded.

Kaminari gulped, looking down. The villains kept their distance, like the frog girl said they would. Good to know they were just as scared.

"Yo villains! Get ready for a stroll on electric avenue!" his left hand sparkled, and, on that moment, the aquatic villains realized how frigged they were. He dipped the hand on the water and the villains were all eletrocuted into unconciousness.

"All done! I saved the day!" Kaminari bragged as they pulled him back up.

"Wouldn't have been better if you shoved both hands in the water?" Mineta inquired. Kaminari gave him a look.

Kaminari raised a finger and explained like it was rehearsed. "If I did that, they wouldn't be zapped. Eletricity flows through my arms like a circuit. And eletricity, naturally, tries to flow through its circuit. If I put two hands in the water, the electricity would travel from one to the other on a straight line, complete the circuit. The only water electrified would have been the one between my hands. Electricity won't scatter like that. But since I only placed one hand on the water, the electricity spread out to try and find the other hand."

Mineta just blinked. Asui gave him a studying look. Kaminari just shrugged at them.

"I have an eletrical quirk. Of course I gotta know stuff like this."

* * *

"This was surprisingly easy." Jiro remarked, sounding almost disappointed.

Following the solar flare, the heroes-in-training made their escape deeper into the mountain sector. A hill with trees served as a temporary refuge to plan their next move. Yaoyorozu was an advocate for playing defensive and waiting for real pro-heroes to rescue them. In spite of the situation, she argued calmly that they had no experience and were greatly outnumbered. Jiro protested that may not be an option and that they may have to confront the enemy. Izuku agreed with the ear-jack quirk user. A moment of thought later, the class president relented:

"I suppose you are correct. The fact those villains were able to bypass USJ defenses, cut off communications and were aware of our schedules proves they have this attack planned out. Being proactive and preemptive may be a better strategy."

Jiro and Izuku blinked and exchanged a glance. A moment ago, the class president was voting not to fight, then she changed her tune while reciting several logical arguments.

"Wow, you sounded like an actual leader."

Yaoyorozu shrugged. "I only presented the arguments you certainly thought of."

Jiro and Izuku shared another glance. Neither of them had thought of that many reasons to fight back.

The trio agreed to lay a trap. From their vantage point, they spotted a good place for it; a cliff at the foot of a mountain. Momo created a blanket over the cliff and covered it with a thin layer of dirt for camouflage. Jiro and Izuku went ahead to meet the villains halfway and slow them down with hit-and-run attacks. Thanks to Jiro, it was easy to detect incoming enemies. When Yaoyorozu - or Yaomomo as she didn't mind being nicknamed - gave them the signal by the communicators she made them, the pair turned tail and lured the evil doers to the trap.

The end result, the villains wound up at the bottom of the cliff, dazed or unconscious.

"That wasn't all of them." Izuku noticed there were only six. The group consisted of twenty or so.

"This must have only been a vanguard." Yaoyorozu agreed.

Jiro walked to the edge of the cliff and asked rather demandingly what their plan for killing All Might. It took to the threat of burying them alive, but they called her bluff and kept their mouths shut.

To further the kids' distress, the bulk of the villains showed up.

* * *

"This is why the pawns go first." Deathvolt smirked under his helmet. The kids had had enough time to lay a trap, which those two-bit numbskulls fell for, clearing the stage for his group. Now the pro-hero wannabees had no more surprises.

That being said, these kids weren't half bad, taking down thugs left and right, while covering each other's backs. Of course, his 'colleagues' had no concept of teamwork and pretty much went one at a time for an attack. What else could he expect from a hodge-podge of low drug-dealers, extortionists, junkies and dumb-muscle freelancers occasionally hired by higher criminal bosses?

In all honesty, Deathvolt _could_ direct them into something more of a coese attack force. But he was no team player, himself. Deathvolt believed if you can't cover your own ass, you're not worth the effort or the money. That was a lesson life drilled into him over the years he worked as muscle enforcer and security on illegal dealings between crime bosses. A curriculum he had started building a little before he even became an adult. Mostly thanks to his electric quirk, a rare asset it is. But his power wasn't all he had under his belt. No, over the years, he learnt how to be observant.

The half-naked girl with the ponytail fought with a bo staff, complete with a taser at the tip. Perfect!

He pushed another thug aside and lunged to attack her from the front. The girl, probably thinking he was another moron, hit him in the chest with the taser. It tickled! Deathvolt hit the ground and pretended to be out cold. From the corner of his half-opened eye, he was able to keep watch on the girl.

He made out some surprised shouts after his 'defeat'. Apparently seeing the 'leader' down caused the others to chicken out. Worthless pussies, all of them!

It wasn't long until the last of them was felled and the kids relaxed. The weary creation girl turned her back to him.

Perfect opportunity.

Deathvolt sprang to his feet and stabbed his gift from Shigaraki in her back. He girl cried out as the weapon shocked her. She stumbled back into his hands.

* * *

Izuku had his back turned when he heard Momo's cry. He gasped when he saw a villain holding her by the neck with one hand. The big one with a skull like mask.

"Word of the wise, brat." The villain sneered at his hostage. "when you strike your enemy, make sure they're dead."

"Let her go!" Jiro wielded her sword.

"You're in no position to make demands. I am." His other hand came closer to Yaoyorozu's face, sparking with electricity. "You want her to live, then start by dropping your weapons."

The rock girl and diamond boy did as demanded. The bubble-bullets Izuku had on his hand scattered on the ground.

The villain pointed at Izuku. "Get rid of your belt, too. You thought I hadn't noticed you stored those marbles there? Drop 'em."

Cursing their luck under his breath, Izuku tossed the utility belt far away and held his hands in the air.

Yaoyorozu squirmed. Her fact looked determined, then confused. "W-what have you done to me? Why can't I use my quirk?"

"That's right, you can't. Now shut up!" the villain face snapped back to Jiro. "Don't even try it! You thought I wouldn't see that!" Izuku spotted her ear jack retreating from her boot. Whatever move Jiro had attempted was foiled.

"Now, you" the villain meant Jiro. "walk into the pit you dropped these shits in. I bet they're jumping at the chance to pay you back."

Seeing their petrified class representative and no other option, Jiro began to step back, slowly.

Amidst all the apprehension, Izuku's gem began to glow.

"I said don't try anything, diamond boy!"

"But I'm not…" right then, he felt the vibrations and increasing heat coming off his forehead. Shit! Not the time for his powers to start acting on their own!

"Midoriya, stop that." Jiro whispered through clenched teeth. "You could get Yaomomo killed."

"It's not me." The glow and vibrations increased. A headache settled in and was getting worse, fast.

"That's it, the girl's dead!" the villain's hand burst with electricity.

"No!" Jiro cried out.

On instinct, his hand travelled to his gem. Light exploded. There was a cry of pain. Blood spilled on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In order to make the first confrontation between the kids and the villains much more significant, I gave a little character to the eletrical villain.


	8. Grim Day at the USJ

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku discovers 2 more powers. And has a potentially traumatic experience.

… Blood spilled on the ground.

Izuku was stunned. Jiro sucked in a gasp. Deathvolt’s grip on Yaoyorozu loosened and she got away from the captor. Deathvolt himself looked down at his bleeding flank, stabbed by a long white object that seemingly came out of nowhere. Said object wasn’t Yaoyorozu’s creation, though. It had manifested on Izuku’s hands, instead!

* * *

**A few seconds earlier.**

_Amidst all the apprehension, Izuku's gem began to glow._

_"I said don't try anything, diamond boy!"_

_"But I'm not…" right then, he felt the vibrations and increasing heat coming off his forehead. Shit! Not the time for his powers to start acting on their own!_

_"Midoriya, stop that." Jiro whispered through clenched teeth. "You could get Yaomomo killed."_

_"It's not me." The glow and vibrations increased. A headache settled in and was getting worse, fast._

_"That's it, the girl's dead!" the villain's hand burst with electricity._

_"No!" Jiro cried out._

_On instinct, his hand travelled to his gem. Light exploded. In the span of a second, the light itself solidified on Izuku’s hands, taking the shape of something elongated and sharp at the tip. The object extended itself quickly, still on Izuku’s hand, and the point was buried in Deathvolt’s flank. There was a cry of pain from the man. Blood spilled on the ground._

* * *

The frightened Izuku let go of the weapon and it disintegrated in sparkles. Blood poured out of Deathvolt’s wound. He fell on his knees and tried his best to close it with both hands.

“Yaomomo, are you alright?” Jiro hugged her friend fiercely to confort her.

“I’m fine. Just shaken.”

Deathvolt growled. “Damn it! Stabbed by a jittery brat, just my shitty luck.” he glared at them angrily. “Well, what are you waiting for? Just toss me into that pit, or whatever.”

Jiro was all too happy to do so, hadn’t Yaoyorozu stopped her. She class president insisted he was no threat in his current condition. Izuku was miles away from that discussion. The image of the object he, a moment ago, had in his hand. A staff. Or a spear? A long, sharp-pointed, object. Tainted with blood.

“ _I did that._ ”

It happened again. It was a repeat of Shinya Fukumatsu, the sludge villain’s incident. Another new power he did not know he had just popped up, and like it had a mind of its own, harmed someone else.

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Really? You’re apologizing, you stupid brat?” Deathvolt snarled, more irritated than pained.

The diamond boy turned to the girls, pleading. “We can’t just leave him like this.”

“Yes we can! The others need help.” Jiro argued.

“But he’ll bleed out.”

“He should have known what he was getting into. Besides, you’re the one who did that.”

Izuku flinched. “It was an accident.”

Jiro sighed. “Even so, he was going to kill Yaomomo.”

“I know but, what kind of heroes will we be if we let him bleed out?”

“P-please, be quiet!” the class president ordered waveringly, but the two did cease the argument. She looked at them both, then at the villain, lost on what to do next.

Yaoyorozu pointed her staff at him. “You were struck in the flank. Not immediately fatal, however…” she made an effort and to her alleviation, her quirk was back in action. Turned out the effect of the destabilizer didn’t last long. A bulge grew from her left shoulder, taking the form of a white box with a Red Cross. “There are bandages and antiseptics inside. You can have them if you tell us what your League’s goal is.”

“And if I don’t?” his tone sound amused.

She hesitated at first. “Then we’ll leave you like this.”

He pretended to think about it. “In that case…I’m not talking.”

The class president was taken aback but stilled herself. “Then we’ll leave to you bleed.”

He chuckled. “No, you won’t. None of you have the stomach to kill. That much I can tell. I know an empty threat when I see one.”

Yaoyorozu’s hand shook and she finally relented with a sigh. Crestfallen she dropped the kit on the ground close by the villain and walked back to her friends, who gave her sympathetic looks.

“Lets get out of here. He’s no threat, anymore.” Jiro said, not wanting to be another moment in the presence of that villain. They all silently agreed and walked away.

Deathvolt looked at the emergency kit, then at the kids and shrugged. “Hold on, brats. If you want to survive this, stay away from the Anti Might.”

That made them pause. “Anti Might?” Izuku asked.

“That giant, purple guy with the shiny crystals all over his body. That guy is tough enough to go toe-to-toe with All Might, or so I’ve been told. You want to live, then don’t mess with him.”

Yaoyorozu blinked. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Yeah. Don’t expect me to give anything else away, just because you didn’t end me. At the end of the day, I’m a villain.”

And they left the villain to tend to his wound. Once out of hearing range, Yaoyorozu began to sob faintly. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get him to talk.”

“It’s alright, Yaomomo.” Jiro hugged her from the side. “You acted pretty cool, though. Like a real leader.”

“That’s right. And you cleaned up the mess I made.” Izuku tried his best to sound positive and reassuring, only being half successful. The creation girl did perk up a little and even offered Jiro a sheath for her sword.

“That was an impressive weapon you made, Midoriya. Were you aware you could create objects, too?”

“No, that was all new.”

Together they walked out of the Mountain Zone, speaking quietly and always keeping their eyes out. They weren’t safe just yet and not keen on being ambushed by a possible third wave of villains.

“Come to think of it, that spear or whatever it was, it glowed. Not like a shiny object, more like it was made of light.” Jiro commented. Izuku gave her a puzzled look.

“What are you saying, that I made an object of ‘solidified’ light?”

Yaoyorozu opined. “Hard-light has been proven to be theoretically possible. Nonetheless, that spear could just be some unknown, naturally glowing material. It’s a more likely possibility. I myself once tried to create a whole new element.” She admitted the last tidbit self-consciously.

“How did that work out?” Izuku inquired, curious but also cluelessly.

Yaoyorozu blushed hotly and refrained from answering. Izuku shut himself up when Jiro aimed an ear-jack dangerously close to his face.

The creation girl looked back at him. “I must thank you, Midoriya. Your plan to save me worked, even if you did hurt that man.”

Izuku blinked “My plan?” Jiro was equally confused.

“Yeah, you were pretending to have a headache to shoot your energy beams. I’ve seen you do it from your gem. You were attempting to stun him, but instead you made that staff. It was risky, dangerous but effective. You saved my life. So I thank you.”

“ _But I had plan at all. Nor any control over my powers. My gem just decided to butt in at the worst time possible. I actually endangered you._ ” That’s what he wanted to say, what he knew he should have said. But he didn’t. He couldn’t live with the shame, the disappointment his classmates would show him. Here he was, Izuku Midoriya, training to be a hero and, lo and behold, he simultaneously endangered two lives!

_Some hero I was, I thought then. Tragically, Yaoyorozu and Deathvolt weren’t the only people I hurt that day. Nor were they the worst off…_

* * *

Their cautious walk continued until they reached the plaza. The place was littered with beaten villains of all shapes. Some tied up in groups by their teacher’s trademark weapon he wore like a scarf.

“Wow, Aizawa-sensei did all of this?”

“That’s a true pro for you.” Jiro spoke rather admiringly.

At the center of the plaza, close by the fountain, were two other villains. One a lanky, creepy-looking fellow with hands all over his person. The other was a figure they recognized by description.

“A giant purple guy with colorful rocks all over. That’s got to be the Anti Might.” Izuku declared. Their courage faltered a little and they stopped. Until Yaomomo gasped and pointed at the hulking villain.

“He has Aizawa-sensei!” a more thorough look confirmed that horrifying fact. The enormous villain held the disheveled man like a limp doll by his head. Bloody and bruised, Aizawa was slammed into the ground, face down. The creature raised a fist. The crystals embedded in its skin glowed and the fist changed shape, becoming a large ball with spikes. It was promptly slammed into the man’s back, eliciting a hoarse, pained cry.

All their previous relief and feelings of success were forgotten. A new horror of reality settled in. They now realized what their elders and betters had been dealing with. The homeroom teacher hadn’t been fighting the purple behemoth. No, was being massacred by it.

The beast paused when there was a clapping sound. The petrified children turned their stunned attention to the villain covered in hands.

“Good show, Nomu.” He spoke with a dull, unenthused tone. “But don’t rough him up too much. He’s the only toy you got until All Might gets here.”

“T-toy?” Yaoyorozu whispered in a faulty voice. It wasn’t just horror speaking, though. “Is that what innocent lives are to you?”

She didn’t raise her voice that much, but it was enough to get the evil-doer’s attention. Whatever expression he had was covered by the hand on his face. His voice continued passionless.

“I’m just doing what any ordinary villain would do. That’s how things are supposed to be right; villains do bad things and heroes make all those bad things go away. Heroes always make everything better.” as the monologuing went on, the neck scratching became more frenzied. Suddenly, his tone became angry, loud and deranged. “LIKE HELL! Heroes say they will always save the day, but they never do! And All Might, the worst of the lot! He SMILES like it will do a damn to help!” the villain was now panting erratically, and the scratching kept getting worse. All the while, the students watched with trepidation and horror, like the madman was a bomb about to go off. Then he stopped and glared at them. His voice was in ‘dull mode’, again.

“If you really buy that crap, go ahead, _heroes_! Try and fix everything and save the day. Nomu, break his arm.”

Aizawa, who was nearly overcome by unconsciousness, cried out when his left arm was snapped like a twig. Yaoyorozu gasped, covering her mouth with shaking hands. Her eyes threatening to spill tears. Jiro’s whole body trembled, from her hands to her lips. The normally quiet, collected girl was on the verge of a panic attack. And Izuku, he felt something acid and bitter climb all the way up his stomach to his throat, leaving a bitter aftertaste. His hands travelled to his mouth and suppressed the urge to vomit.

What was he doing here? For a moment, his brain couldn’t give answer. Hours ago, he was just a freshman high school student going on a merry field trip. Then he became boy fighting for his own survival along with his classmates against street thugs armed to the teeth. That contrasting shift alone had been surreal enough to make him wonder if the whole thing wasn’t a dream. Now, here he stood, a pro-hero in-training watching his instructor been treated like a punching bag.

“ _This can only be a dream._ ” It had to be a dream. Nothing so inhumane, so cruel could be real.

“I’m bored.” The hand villain sighed and ordered offhandedly. “Nomu, just crush his skull, already.”

Yet, it was real. It was happening.

“No!” absent of plan or even thought, Jiro and Izuku attacked the Nomu before it made a move. The former sent a shockwave via the ground, the latter a white laser from his gem. It did nothing against the silent monster, nothing but made it spot before closing his fist on the teacher’s head.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” The leader villain turned again to the kids. “Challenging the final boss before leveling up enough is guaranteed ‘game over’. Nomu, crush them first.”

It happened so fast. The beast dropped the near-death man and rushed at the children. In a panic, Yaoyorozu began to produce a Roman-style shield to cover them all, but it wasn’t fast enough.

Izuku closed his eyes, not wanting to see the inevitable.

* * *

**‘Place’ Unknown**

He opened them slowly when he noted certain death was coming too slow. A frightened gasp escaped him when he saw how close the monster was. Then he noted how strange was that Nomu wasn’t moving at all. His posture looked ready to pounce on them, but it made no move. Like a frozen frame. Also strange, it was toned gray for some reason. As was everything around him.

Perplexed, he turned to Jiro and Yaoyorozu, only to see two shadowy figures beside him. They had the vague shapes of his classmates. He could even hear their voices, muffled and uncoherent. A look behind the Nomu and he spotted what could only be the mist and hand villains, both shadowy specters as well.

“Okay, keep it together.” Izuku told himself, trying to collect his bearings. “Somehow, the whole world turned gray. Everyone is some kind of shadowy specter, save for that Nomu thing. And said Nomu thing is just standing there. Alright. How did I get here? I just fired a beam at it.”

He raised a hand to his forehead to think, and noticed something else. There were strings of light, one attached to each fingertip. The ten strings split into more and more and ended in the crystals adorning the Nomu. It reminded him of puppet strings. Could it be…

An idea!

“Can I?” he moved to the monster’s left, keeping a wary eye on it, and gave a pull as mighty as he could. And the creature budged to the left, like a puppet following its strings. “It works! I can control it.”

Somehow, he could control the Nomu. Albeit barely and with difficulty, but he stopped it, nonetheless. In his hopefulness, he looked over to the girls and was surprised to see a third specter standing beside them. A white one that resembled his own frame.

“Wow! I’m…outside my body. Like a classic psychic ghost-type situation. Is this a new power or could I be…” he chased that morbid thought away. “If I can control people like puppets…” he moved cautiously towards the behemoth and touched it. Now that was a bad idea. The moment he made contact with the beast, his ears were invaded by cries and screams of agony. Izuku found himself screaming too. And the gray world shattered around him.

* * *

**While that had happened…**

In the real world, the scene was halted in confused suspense.

“What the hell is this glitch?!” Shigaraki growled. His Nomu had been a fraction of a second from crushing those brats. Then he stopped, his skin turned gray, and he remained there, unmoving.

“Shigaraki, look.” Kurogiri pointed to the children. “The white child, his eyes are glowing. He…”

“He’s the one glitching Nomu!”

Before the villains could spring into action, the diamond boy passed out. Nomu hissed and it’s normal hue returned. Shigaraki barked. “Nomu! Crush those cheaters.”

With one classmate out cold, Jiro and Yaoyorozu would have met their end, hadn’t the doors to the compound been burst inwards and a familiar figure walked in. And he was not smiling.

“I am here!”

* * *

It was an intense smell that brough back Izuku. The first thing he saw was Yaoyorozu calming him down, holding a smelling salt bag.

“It’s alright, Midoriya! We are saved!”

Saved? It all came back to him. He looked around in fright, wary of any villain nearby. He and the girls were still in the plaza, yet far enough from the danger zone. The ground shook and he was astonished to find the purple monster exchanging blows with the Number One Hero.

“All Might arrived just in time.” The class president’s voice exuded relief and joy, so different from minutes ago. “Whatever you did to that monster stopped him for a few moments. Had you not,” she turned somber. “we would have been dead before All Might arrived.”

Izuku glanced around and cried out in horror seeing up close the bloody Eraserhead. The homeroom teacher was lying on the ground, his arm on a sling and a breathing mask pumping oxygen rich air into his lungs. Yaoyorozu grimaced.

“The Nomu monster was brutal! I think he even broke sensei’s spine. Jiro went to tell Kaminari, see if he can contact anyone.”

Izuku was almost afraid to ask. Almost. “D-do you think he will make it?”

“I did the best I could for him, but if he doesn’t get proper medical attention…” she left the answer hang.

Another artificial earthquake. All Might was now ensnared in the creature’s grasp, its hand had taken the form of long, thick whips.

“Super-strength, super-speed, resilience to attacks and shape-shifting.” Izuku listed off the abilities he had seen, so far. “That thing does have multiple quirks.”

Jiro added. “Before you woke up, he also controlled the water of the fountain.”

“But it’s impossible for anyone to have multiple quirks.” Yaoyorozu shook her head.

Izuku frowned in thought. “When I…when that thing was going to attack us, what happened?” he asked.

Yaoyorozu hesitated. “Suddenly, he stopped midway just before touching us. Jiro and I were just confused. And so was the leading villain – he’s called ‘Shigaraki’ - we noticed you weren’t moving. Your eyes and diamond glowing. Was that your doing?”

He nodded and described his own out-of-body experience. “Did something happen with the crystals Nomu has?”

“Yeah, they turned gray, for a while.” Jiro said, dubious as to how that played out.

Izuku sighed. “I think I got it! Those crystal shards are the source of Nomu’s power! When I was…out of my body, I heard a…a crowd of whispering voices coming from the crystals. They were confused, scared and hurting. Somehow, I think those shards are alive.”

“That sounds crazy.”

“I know what I heard.”

The Number One hero remained trapped and now Nomu was shape-shifting his other arm into a long spear. He was going to impale the Symbol of Peace!

“Good, Nomu!” Shigaraki was elated. “Now finish him. Get a headshot!”

Izuku again reacted without thinking. In a desperate attempt, he tried to repeat the same steps from before: fired a white beam at the enemy and command it to stop.

* * *

He was back in the grayish plane of existence. The crying voices returned. He glanced at the strings connecting his fingers to the shards. Without hesitation, he yanked as hard as he could.

“Let him go!”

* * *

All Might’s impending end was stopped in its tracks. To his surprise, Nomu relaxed his grip on him.

“YOU AGAIN!” he heard the leader, Shigaraki, shrieking and running. Towards Young Midoriya and his friends.

Without hesitation, the hero raced to intercept the attack. Fortunately, it never came, for a sudden portal opened in front of the running Shigaraki, taking him back to the side of the mist villain, Kurogiri.

“WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!” the deranged man grabbed the mist man’s by the collar of his shirt, slowly disintegrating it.

“Shigaraki, All Might was about to counter-attack you. It was all I could do to save you.” The underling spoke calmly, like he wasn’t being threatened at all. Shigaraki growled and let him go. He glared at the unresponsive Nomu and then at his hated enemy, who was now checking on the damned white kid.

“Young Midoriya, are you alright?”

The boy broke out of whatever trance he was in and fell to his knees, feeling like he ran a marathon. “So…much…pain.”

“Please, refrain from joining the fight, again. Leave this to me.”

“All Might-sensei, those shards are what’s giving that villain so many powers! They’re alive!”

The teacher gave him a sideways glance. “Are you certain?”

Izuku nodded repeatedly. “I felt them. I heard them screaming.”

All Might was about to ask something else but a fed up Shigaraki hissed:

“Nomu! Crush All Might! And don’t let yourself be influenced by that NPC again! Use Sonic’s Spin Attack.”

The creature made the faintest sign of nodding and All Might gently pushed Izuku back. The villain revolved itself in a makeshift ball of muscle and span like a tire at All Might, intending to run him over. The Pro was caught surprised by the new technique but kept steadfast in holding the monster. So instead, Nomu disengaged and rotated all around the plaza. It was hard to guess from where it was going to attack next. A fact proven when Nomu came rolling from behind All Might and hit him. The Pro-hero was projected against the fountain, destroying it.

Shigaraki laughed and applauded. “Nomu is the ultimate game-changer! All the strongest quirks and gem shards make him the unbeatable final-boss for the Symbol of Peace!”

A drenched All Might momentarily pondered. “ _Quirks and gem shards? So that guy really does have multiple quirks. And those crystals are not just for decoration. Like Young Midoriya said…_ ” He filed those thoughts for later and picked himself up.

Suddenly, the Nomu had half his body incased in ice and uncapable of moving. Everyone turned to see three new arrivals: Bakugo, Kirishima and Todoroki. Kirishima went over to Yaoyorozu, Jiro and Izuku to check on them. Bakugo had jumped the mist villain and pinned him to the floor. No point saying who was responsible for immobilizing Nomu.

All Might was about to scold the students for interfering when he caught sight of how calm Shigaraki looked. As if he had not just been left by himself with all his subordinates defeated.

“Nomu, Kurogiri, free yourselves.” He ordered dully.

The Number One felt a sudden heat wave coming from the Nomu. The ice melted nigh instantly. As for Kurogiri…from his mist-covered arm sprang an object familiar to the Mountain Zone trio. Its two-pointed tip touched Bakugo in the chest, shocking him. Kurogiri was able to slip from his grasp. The explosive teen tried to blow him up, but to his horror, no explosion came.

“The hell you did to me?!”

“These quirk destabilizers are quite useful tools.” Kurogiri commented, showing off his piece of high tech, and returned to his boss’s side.

Bakugo tried another explosion to no avail. It was Jiro who explained.

“It’s no use. A zap from those things and your quirk will be out of commission for a while.”

Bakugo growled. He was very tempted to fire all the sweat stored in his gauntlet’s at the bastards, but thought better to spare his only remaining ammunition until his power returned. To make matters worse for his ego, Shitty-Hair and the Punk Girl joined his side.

“You okay, Baku-bro?”

Bakugo fumed at the red haired one. “Don’t treat me like an invalid just because my quirk is offline!”

The battle re-ignited. “Nomu, put that spawn out of battle.”

Nomu raised a fist and all the water scattered around the destroyed fountain began to collect itself into a wave with spikes. The spikes froze solid and were shot faster than the normal eye could see at Todoroki, who was all by himself. All Might rushed in, grabbed the boy before he got impaled, and deposited him close to the other students.

“Young Todoroki, everyone, stay out of this.”

“Like hell I am!” Bakugo growled

“That thing had the upper hand against you until I intervened.” Todoroki remarked, coldly and without any arrogance.

“And I thank you for your assistance, but now leave this to me.” All Might gave them a thumbs-up and a typical grin. “Watch a pro at work.”

All Might and Nomu raced at each other, but never collided. Nomu did the Spin Attack again, keeping more mobile than All Might was. Often he relied on energy attacks from a distance. While the Number One could also fight at long-range, his greatest advantage was in hand-to-hand. Unless he could get close to Nomu, it would be extremely hard to defeat him.

Something that Izuku could easily see. “It’s a losing battle. That Nomu may look mindless, but it has got a good grasp on All Might’s weaknesses. It’s fighting him at a distance where All Might’s attacks are less effective.”

Kirishima greeted his shark teeth. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing!”

“I can.” He quickly explained his newest power and what it did to Nomu.

Yaoyorozu was quick to try and dissuade him. “Midoriya, you can’t see yourself right now, but you’re awfully pale. Whatever this power is, it’s very debilitating.”

That statement brought home how tired he felt. His body didn’t feel like getting up. Still…

“We are training to be heroes. Doing dangerous things is part of the job. If I can do anything to increase All Might’s odds, I have to try.”

Bakugo sneered. “As if All Might needs your help.”

Izuku ignored him. Despite knowing Katsuki Bakugo the longest, they were anything but close. The blonde had swatted away any attempt Izuku had made to befriend him in the past.

“I might need someone watching over me, though.”

“You can count on me, Midori-bro!” Kirishima placed a hard hand on his shoulder. “Wanting to help out even if it hurts you is the manliest thing ever. I’ll watch your back.”

Izuku thanked him.

Jiro unsheathed her sword. “I’ll stick around, too.”

Todoroki did not take his eyes off the villains. “I suppose I will help, as well. Until I spot an opening on the villains.”

“Count me out.” Bakugo would have none of it. He would beat the villains without any extras or Deku dragging him down.

Yaoyorozu relented. “So be it. I will be monitoring your life-signs. Should your condition worse, stop whatever you do. Understood, Midoriya?”

He nodded, a bit taken aback by her intensity. He took a deep, preparing breath to garner his energy and shot a beam of light at the monster that barely hit it. Though faint, the wails of the crystals were still heard. If he focused on their screams, only and tuned out the rest…

* * *

…he was back in the gray mindscape.

Izuku tried to pull at the strings, but this time, the creature wouldn’t let itself be controlled without a fight. Nomu pulled back against him, continuing to fight the big specter that was All Might.

“So MuCh PaIn!”

“CaN’t StOp…”

“HuRsT sO MuCh!”

“MaKe It StOp…”

“HeLp Me DiE!”

“Please, help me! I want to stop this, but I can’t do it alone. If this is hurting you, help me stop it!”

“BrEaK…”

“BrEaK mE!”

“ShaTtEr mE!”

“Break?” Izuku asked.

“FrEeDoM…”

“ShAtTeR uS!”

It dawned on him what they were begging for. He just understood instinctively.

“No, I can’t. There’s got to be another way!”

“EnD uS!”

He shook his head vigorously. Trying to hold the Nomu and communicating with the shards had become such a strain on his concentration that he couldn’t talk. He could feel his limbs weakening. A coldness spreading all over him.

“I won’t. I’m sorry.” He wheezed. “I’m sick of hurting others. I’m supposed to be a hero. I save people.” A sudden sickness struck him.

* * *

Outside of the mind, the Nomu flickered in between gray and purple. Yet, he only stopped amidst his attacks momentarily. Most of the time, the creature kept control and was turning up the beating on All Might. Meanwhile, Izuku spat blood, much to the affliction of his classmates.

Yaoyorozu hastily created a portable heart monitor and attached it to Izuku’s neck. To her horror, the device showed an irregular beating of his heart.

“Midoriya, you have to stop this! You are going into cardiac arrest!”

* * *

His strength continued leaving him. Breath was becoming increasingly shorter. His chest hurt. Izuku now realized; he was dying.

“EnD uS!”

His vision blurred.

“No…” the boy wheezed.

Everything was turning dark.

That all changed when a blinding light erupted from his gem, refilling him with energy. Said energy was channeled through his fingers and the strings. When it reaches the shards, they screamed for a moment. The next moment they felt no more.

* * *

“Arghhh!” in the physical plane, Izuku screamed. Arms flew to grasp his head. His gem glowed.

“Midoriya!”

The children were distracted by the diamond boys, while the adults saw that the Nomu was doing the same gestures as the boy. Its gem shards glowed as well. Cracks spread over all of them…

SHATTER!

They all broke apart into tiny pieces, not one of them attached to the beast anymore.

Shigaraki was seething with all the setbacks. The diamond brat kept interfering, but Nomu wasn’t too affected, this time. Plus with the party the kid acquired, he wasn’t too keen on fighting multiple opponents at once. Now, Sensei’s gift to him was paralyzed and lost all of its equips.

“Don’t just stand there, Nomu! Kill All Might!”

The creature obeyed diligently, only this time, it closed in on the Pro, rather than use long-range attacks. All Might exchanged punches with the beast when he realized:

“ _Young Midoriya was right. Those crystals did give this guy those powers_.” And now said crystals were gone. All Might turned to his students and felt his someone just punched him in his injury. Young Midoriya was out cold, a trail of blood running down his mouth. His friends fussing all over him in a panic. The Number One hero saw red and turned his newfound anger-fueled might against his opponent.

* * *

**Later**

“Defeated! We were completely defeated! We lost to those kids! All our underlings and even Nomu!” Shigaraki rasped, materializing on the floor of the bar that was the HQ of the League. “And All Might! All Might wasn’t injured at all. You were wrong, Sensei!”

The seething man-child glared at a screen attached to a wall, displaying ‘AUDIO ONLY’.

“ _No, I wasn’t_.” replied a male voice, soothing and with a sense of command as strong as iron. When this man spoke, even him not being present, it felt as if his words came from an absolute, unforgiving God who could disintegrate mountains. A person that was used to have others obey him without deviance, and experience on how to make people follow him. “ _We were just poorly prepared_.”

Sure enough, it had said effect on Shigaraki, whose tone became much more submissive, akin to that of a child having just been scolded for doing wrong.

A second male voice spoke. It had none of the darkness of the first one. “ _A good thing we did it under that cheap ‘League of villains’ name_.” despite the neutral tone, Shigaraki could tell that damned scientist was mocking him.

Then, a third voice spoke. A female one whose every sound was laced with irritation. “ _Enough with casual chit-chat. What happened to our creation? And the equipment I made for you?_ ”

It was Kurogiri who answered, after a brief hesitation. “The Nomu was blown away. And we lost all of our quirk destabilizers, but mine.” He showed the object he used to render Bakugo temporarily quirkless.

“What?!” exclaimed the second male. “After all the quirks we stuffed into it to make it as strong as All Might?”

His irritation was nothing compared to the female’s, though. “ _Quirks?! Do you have any idea how much of my stock of gem shards I used up to upgrade that hunk of organic matter? Thirty-seven point three percent, that’s how much you good for nothing, miscreant, uneducated…_ ”

“ _That’s enough, Peridot_.” Silenced the first voice, the one identified as ‘Sensei’. “ _Tomura, as unfortunate as those losses were, they’re nothing you cannot recover from. Take what you have learnt today and try again._ ”

“Yes, Sensei.” Shigaraki spoke, still lying on the ground. Kurogiri went into a storage room to fetch a first aid kit to help treat Shigaraki’s bullet injuries.

“ _Now, about something else. My sources tell me the child was on that class_.”

Shigaraki clenched his fist. “The diamond brat, he was there. He was to blame for this! He broke Nomu! He took away its gem powers!”

“ _Oh?_ ” on the other side of the line, Sensei grinned. The other two listened attentively. The Peridot produced a holographic notepad, ready to take notes. “ _Tell me all about it_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the aftermath and epilogue of season 1.

**Author's Note:**

> Izuku is genetically and officially quirkless, however everyone thinks he does have a quirk just by looking at him. How many quirkless people have a precious gem as part of their body, white eyes with strange pupils and freakishly white hair that always stands up in five prongs.  
> Because of that, people haven't ostracized him for being quirkless, but rather because he is a little weird. Also the cooler parts of his 'quirk' - the super strenght - are unreliable.


End file.
